Camden plays way into championship round with 10-9, 10-inning win over Inman

When Camden Post 17 was swept by Chapin/Newberry in its second-round series in the American Legion baseball state playoffs, the question was raised among players and coaches about turning in uniforms.

Then everyone remembered the season might not be over yet because of the possibility of the play-in series among the three second-round losers should host Sumter win its way into the state tournament.

Well, the play-in series took place and Camden won two games to play its way into the state tournament. Now Post 17 has played itself into the tournament’s championship round.

William Cobb singled home Nick Stokes with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning to lead Camden to a 10-9 victory over Inman on Tuesday at Riley Park.

“It was actually the coaches who were talking about taking up the uniforms,” said Camden head coach Tyler Pike. “Then we remembered about the play-in and we told our guys about it. You could see their eyes light up when we told them that we might have another chance.”

Post 17 is now 16-9 on the season and will play today at 10 a.m. against undefeated Florence Post 1. Camden will have to beat Florence twice to claim the state title.

It looked as though the game were going to the 11th inning when Inman reliever Hunter Gneisig retired the first two batters. However, Stokes drew a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Cobb ripped a single into right-center field to easily score Stokes with the winning run.

“I was trying not to do too much,” said Cobb, who finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored and the game-winning RBI. “I was just looking for something that I could go to the backside with.”

Cobb had missed the first two games of the tournament due to a hip pointer injury. He got into Camden’s 12-6 loss to Florence on Monday late in the game. He said he was happy to be able to help his team stay alive in its second chance.

“We were really down after we lost to Chapin (in the series),” Cobb said. “We knew we were a talented team, so when we found out we would get another chance we wanted to make the most of it.”

Inman, the upper state No. 3 seed that had rallied from a 15-1 beatdown by Chapin/Newberry in its opening game of the tournament, came oh so close of playing itself into the championship round.

Leading 9-8 in the bottom of the ninth, Gneisig retired the first two batters of the inning and appeared to have the game over when Brock Robinson hit a ground ball down the third base line that third baseman Tim Beach fielded and threw to first in enough time. The ball was ruled foul though, giving Robinson new life. He ended up drawing a walk and went to third on a single by Nick Butler.

Camden’s Josh Hernandez then hit a hard grounder that Beach, who was playing very deep, bobbled at third. He short-hopped his hurried throw to first as Hernandez reached safely and Robinson scored.

“I’m proud of the way this team battled today and the way it came back in the tournament,” said Inman head coach Steve Skinner, whose team finished 23-8. “We had plenty of opportunities to win this game today, but we just weren’t able to get it done in the end today.”

Post 45 missed out on a chance to take the lead in the top of the 10th. With one out, Jacob Corn singled against side-arming left-hander Ross Hough with one out. Payton Keadle put down a sacrifice bunt that third baseman Hernandez threw away to put runners on second and third.

Post 17 chose to intentionally walk leadoff hitter Mike Elijah, who had a 2-run single in the eighth to give Inman a 9-7 lead, to load the bases. With left-handed batter Luke Johnson at the plate, Post 45 tried a suicide squeeze. Camden saw it coming and threw a high-and-outside pitch that catcher Will Abbott handled. He tagged out Corn, who was trying to evade the tag, but the ball came loose. However, the umpire said Corn slapped at Abbott’s mitt to knock the ball out.

“The umpire said that he (Corn) slapped at the ball to knock it out of the glove,” Skinner said. “He said it didn’t come loose (on its own). I really didn’t see it.”

It was a back-and-forth affair with Inman taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Camden was up 3-1 after two before Post 45 scored five straight runs to go in front 6-3 entering the bottom of the sixth. Post 17 scored two in the sixth and two more in the seventh to pull into a 7-7 tie. Inman scored two runs in the top of the eighth before Camden scored single runs in the eighth and ninth to force extra innings.

The teams combined for 33 hits to go along with the 19 runs. Post 17 finished with 18 hits, led by Butler’s 4-for-6 performance with three RBI. Robinson was 3-for-4 with two walks, two runs and an RBI, Stokes was 2-for-5 with two runs and Hernandez was 2-for-5 with an RBI.

Elijah was 2-for-3 with three runs and two RBI to lead Post 45. Robbie Vess had two hits and two RBI, while Clayton Caudell, Gneisig, Ethan Wright and Keadle each had two hits.