Waccamaw baseball shuts out Andrews in playoff opener

For most teams, putting a shutout atop a list of priorities on the goal board prior to the start of the postseason isn’t realistic.

At Waccamaw, it’s expected.

The Warriors recorded their 10th shutout in 25 games this season, defeating Andrews 5-0 at home to open the Class AA District V playoffs. Starting pitcher Forrest Powell faced just four batters over the minimum, keeping Waccamaw in the winner’s bracket.

“We execute when we need to,” Powell said. “We throw a lot of strikes - inside, outside, work the corners. We make plays behind pitchers.”

Powell, the team’s No. 2 pitcher, did a little work of his own to help that cause.

He struck out six Yellow Jackets and got eight more out on balls that didn’t leave the infield. His role in a play in the top of the seventh, though, may have been epitome of how good the Waccamaw defense has been.

Andrews’ C.J. Bone hit a sharp grounder to first that went off Carter Fox’s glove. From there, second baseman Brady Gantt looped around behind the play, picked up the ball and slung it to Powell, who was already waiting on first.

They made it look rather effortless.

“In practice, that’s all we do is work on pitching and fielding in practice,” Powell said. “We constantly work on it. It becomes routine how much we do it.”

The Warriors, who had seven shutouts during Region VIII-AA games alone, got enough offense in the first against Andrews to win the game on Powell’s RBI groundout.

For good measure, Waccamaw scored two more in the fifth on back-to-back doubles from Connor Eckard and Alex Altman and then another pair in the sixth on RBI hits from Will Golden and Gantt.

It may have taken longer than coach Jeff Gregory would have liked to get that offense going, although he attributed some of it to the start of the playoffs. Then, add in a tiebreaker situation that left the co-region champion Warriors as a No. 2 seed, and the team may have had to shake off some frustration.

“It was a little bothersome,” Gregory said. “But at the same time, we realized we were a decent ball club and we wanted to try to prove that. Tonight, I thought we were a little flat.”

Maybe to start, but with another defensive gem the Warriors offense had time to catch up.

Waccamaw reached the 20-win plateau for the first time in Gregory’s 10-year tenure, and they’ll play at Barnwell on Saturday for a spot in the district finals.

This story was originally published April 30, 2015 at 9:54 PM with the headline "Waccamaw baseball shuts out Andrews in playoff opener."