Waccamaw baseball bests Bishop England to set rematch

Four minutes after a pivotal win that put the Waccamaw baseball team one step closer to a place its never been, the team turned its attention to the next opponent.

This wasn’t a cliche, citing a “one game at a time” philosophy.

Waccamaw simply wants its next crack at region rival Dillon.

That’s the position the Warriors find themselves in after beating Bishop England 2-1 on Monday in the opening round of the Class AA Lower State tournament. Despite the drama of the win over the Bishops – Tucker Perry’s pitching, two base runners gunned down at home, a near execution of the hidden ball trick and a seldom-used player driving in the game-winning run – there wasn’t much celebration from the Warriors.

Instead, Waccamaw was talking about an even bigger game against a familiar opponent.

“It’s awesome to see who finally really runs the region,” said Perry, the big, junior right-hander, after he picked up another win. “And we hope it’s going to be us. We got, for lack of a better term, kind of screwed out of [the region championship]. But we get to show them we’re the better team in the region.”

Perry was referring to a tie-breaker policy that handed the region title and a No. 1 playoff seed to Dillon despite the teams sharing the same 8-2 region record with losses only to each other and fellow Region VIII-AA squad Aynor.

The runs-allowed format used has already been addressed for next season. And while it didn’t matter in the long-term – both Waccamaw and Dillon cruised through their district playoff brackets en route to Lower State berths – bragging rights are just that.

Given that Aynor also made the Lower State tournament, and those bragging rights are going to continue to be settled in the coming days. Dillon drew first blood with a 9-3 victory over the Blue Jackets to open their Lower State play on Saturday.

Now, the Wildcats come to Waccamaw for a 6:30 p.m. Tuesday tilt.

“We don’t feel like we lost that region,” Warriors junior Ethan Chastain said. “By rule, we did, but it means we get another chance to prove ourselves.”

Chastain and Perry were two of the biggest reasons why.

Perry threw all seven innings against Bishop England, allowing just one run. He recorded five of his six strikeouts in the first three innings and then adjusted down in the zone to create eight groundouts in the final four innings alone.

The game was tied 1-1 until Chastain came to bat in the sixth as a pinch hitter. Having only made two starts all year and having fewer than 20 at-bats to his credit, Chastain hit a sacrifice fly deep enough to right field to bring home courtesy runner Alex Altma, who was inserted to run after catcher Levi Almond was hit by a pitch.

Chastain may not have seemed like the obvious choice, but Waccamaw coach Jeff Gregory said he “went with his gut.”

“He’s done it all year,” Gregory said. “He’s seven-for-12 pinch hitting. I know him. I know what he can do.”

After Perry recorded his final strikeout and a pair of groundouts in the top of the seventh, it set up the third meeting of the year between Waccamaw and Dillon. All that will be on the line is home-field advantage for the Lower State finals.

And a chance to beat a big-time rival.

This story was originally published May 11, 2015 at 10:27 PM with the headline "Waccamaw baseball bests Bishop England to set rematch."