Aiken County Post 26/153 juniors earn No. 3 seed for American Legion playoffs

The Aiken County Post 26/153 junior baseball team ended up with some unexpected breathing room heading into its final game of the American Legion regular season.

It's going to come in handy.

Aiken County made three costly errors Tuesday in a 6-3 loss to Post 79 Eagles AA that dropped the Aiken County juniors to third place in the Junior AA standings.

Thanks to a decision made by the league committee, that won't keep them out of the postseason.

A familiar foe awaits July 8 in the four-team playoff opener - second-seeded North Augusta Post 71, which finished the 10-game schedule at 6-3-1 compared to Aiken County's 6-4.

Richland Post 215 Navy finished first at 7-2-1, while Richland Post 215 White took fourth at 5-3-2.

Aiken County matched Post 79 in hits Tuesday with six apiece, but this time around Post 79 played a clean game defensively and made no errors after committing four June 24 in Aiken County's 14-0 win.

Jeremiah Yarborough had two hits, and Caleb Arthur and Troy Stancel each had an RBI. Aiken County had an on-base percentage of .286, just one night after posting a .649 mark in a 14-2 win over Post 7 Irmo AA.

Blake Freeland got the start on the mound and pitched 3⅔ innings, allowing six runs (one earned) on six hits with five walks and two strikeouts. Arthur finished the game from there, pitching 2⅓ hitless innings with three strikeouts and two hit batters.

The playoff opener July 8 will be played at North Augusta's Riverview Park.