Easley Baseball Falls to Byrnes, Softball Wins at Rock Hill

Two days of rain and a first-game loss in the 4A state baseball playoffs put Easley High School in a tough spot.

Easley dropped its postseason opener, 8-2, Saturday at Byrnes in a game that started Thursday and was postponed twice.

“First time that’s happened to one of my teams in 30 years,” Easley head coach Roger Finley said. “But there’s nothing you can do about the weather.”

Easley softball picked up a win in their second game on Saturday. The Lady Green Wave beat Rock Hill, 4-3.

The girls would have to win three in a row, beginning Monday at Dutch Fork and then beat Boiling Springs twice Wednesday at Boiling Springs to become the district champs.

Easley baseball is in a similar situation. Easley, the bottom seed of four teams in the Division II, now will likely need to win four road games in three days to advance.

The Green Wave plays 6 p.m. Monday at Lancaster for survival and then would have to beat Byrnes or Spring Valley on Tuesday and sweep a doubleheader Wednesday against one of those two.

“It’s going to be hard for us,” Finley said. “We’re going to need a lot of pitching to get through this. We have some arms, but it’s going to be real difficult.”

Down 2-1 in the first inning when play was halted Thursday night, Easley tied it up in the top of the second on a doubles by Brandon Hood and Brice Maready.

The Green Wave had six hits, including four doubles, in the first two innings.

Stephen McKnight, the only senior in the starting lineup for Easley, pitched five innings and gave up all the runs. Wil Hartsell recorded the final three outs. Hood led the offense by going 3-for-3, while Hartsell was 2-for-4 with a double. They scored the only runs.