The French Camp baseball team took a pair of tight wins over Lumberton to advance in the Class 1A state tournament.
French Camp won game 1 8-5 on Saturday and then took an 8-6 win over Saturday, thanks to a grand-slam home run by Benjamin Wright to propel the Panthers to the third-round of the Class 1A playoffs.
French Camp improves to 21-9 on the season and advances to third-round action this week. They will face the winner of the Sacred Heart and Stringer series this week.
French Camp 8, Lumberton 5
French used a five-run sixth inning and took a three-run win over Lumberton.
French Camp scored one in the first and two in the third and led 3-0 but Lumberon scored one in the fourth and two in the sixth to tie the game at 3-3. But French Camp then scored five in the bottom of the sixth and held Lumberton to two run-in the seventh to take the game 1 win.
French Camp had just five hits but took advantage of five walks, four hit batters and three errors. Vitaly Ferguson was 2-for-3 with two RBIs while Eli Withers singled and scored two runs. Benjamin Wright and Rhodes Develin each singled and scored.
Logan Wright started on the mound and pitched six innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and six walks while striking out three. Ty Martin pitched the last inning and gave up one run on two hits.
French Camp 8, Lumberton 6
French Camp used a six-run seventh inning to come from behind and beat Lumberton on Monday to sweep the two-game series.
French Camp scored single runs in the first and second innings before Lumberton scored two runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. French Camp then scored six runs in the seventh inning to take the win.
Each team had five hits and French Camp took advantage of five walks and five hit batters. Benjamin Wright was 2-for-3 with a double and grand slam home run and four RBIs in the top of the seventh to give French Camp the lead. Rhodes Develin also had a solo home run for French Camp. Eli Withers singled and had an RBI while Vitaly Ferguson singled and scored. Rylan Moore was also hit twice and scored a run.
Benjamin Wright started on the mound and pitched the first five innings and gave up four runs on three hits and four walks while striking out 10. Ty Martin pitched 1 1/3 innings and gave up one unearned run on two hits and a walk. Eli Withers got the last two outs with a pair of strikeouts to get the save.
