Rebels’ hot bats lead the way in opening day road win over Whitmire

WHITMIRE, S.C. — The Mid-Carolina Rebels(1-0) opened their 2024 baseball season with a huge 12-0 win on the road against the Whitmire Wolverines(1-5) on Thursday evening.

Crue Keller got the start at pitcher for the Wolverines and he had a rough evening on the mound. He pitched three innings and gave up 10 runs. The Rebels got off to a hot start at the plate and quickly put up three runs in the first inning. They followed up their first inning performance at the plate with even stronger second inning.

Mid-Carolina’s hot offense scored five runs in the second inning and quickly jumped out to a 8-0 lead.

“I’ll be honest, we’ve been struggling a little bit swinging the bat so it was good to get it going. We got some base runners and had some guys come through for us to get us on the board early, which was good,” said Rebels’ head coach Lindsey Stribble.

The Wolverines tried to respond in the third inning with some offense of their own. The home team were able to get someone in scoring position, but he was left stranded on third base.

Xzye Stephens took over the pitching duties for the Wolverines in the fourth inning and he was able to get his squad out of a bases loaded jam after Mid-Carolina added two more runs. He was able to retire three batters in a row.

Trevor Black was able to increase the Rebels with a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning. They were also able to add another run before the Wolverines made a pitching change.

Jacob Clark led the way on the mound for the Rebels. He along with Lawson Lawrence and Luke Milling combined to throw five scoreless innings and only gave up three hits.

“Our pitchers have pitched well the whole preseason. The guys we saw tonight, Clark is a senior, Lawson Lawrence is a sophomore and Luke Milling is a freshman, but we expect big things from them,” said Stribble. “Coach Branham and Coach Stoudemire are doing a great job with our pitching staff. They give us a chance and we figure if can score a couple runs then we have a chance every night.”

The Rebels will off for a week before facing Whitmire again at home on March 15. The Wolverines will have a quick turnaround and will be back on the diamond again on March 8 to play Newberry at home.