AIKEN — The Aiken Baseball Club will face Dutch Fork Post 193 in a deciding third game on July 10 after splitting the first two games of the series.
The best of three series is underway for the American Legion Baseball playoffs, and Aiken’s Post 26 has been making a statement so far on their postseason run. It all started on Monday when they beat Greenwood Post 20, 6-2, to make it past the first round to face Post 193.
They backed up the win just two days later against a tough Dutch Fork team on the road. The bats were getting hot for Aiken at the perfect time as Jake Bryan finished the day with five RBI’s on three hits in the 13-4 victory to open up the series.
In that first game, they also utilized three different pitchers, which has been their strong point all season on the field. Bryson Swearingen not only earned the win on the mound after only allowing one run on three hits with seven strikeouts, but he also finished with two RBI of his own at the plate.
Almost every single person in the lineup recorded at least one hit, with seven players bringing in runs in the process during one of the most electric performances of the season for Aiken.
Although Dutch Fork wasn’t ready to call it a season in game two behind an explosive five-run second inning. Despite a comeback attempt from the Aiken Baseball Club late with two runs in the seventh, it wasn’t enough to overcome the early deficit.
This time it was Blake Freeland who started on the mound, but he was quickly replaced by Kingston Sweetnam after giving up five runs on six hits with five errors and only one strikeout. It was Sweetnam who calmed the seas for Aiken, only giving up one more run on a hit with two strikeouts.
Post 193 forced the decider with a 6-4 victory, and Aiken will head back on the road to Lexington for the winner-takes-all game.