The 5th annual Naturchem Invitational was delayed by 2 days because of inclimate weather.

It closed with 3 clear days of non-stop baseball action, capped Sunday by a dramatic finish between the tournament’s co-organizers and biggest rivals.

Lexington and River Bluff won their respective final games to set up a finals’ matchup between the Invitational’s lone 3-0 teams. It came down to a late rally in the Wildcats’ last at-bat. They scored 3 runs with 2 outs in the bottom 6th to defeat River Bluff 6-5 at home to claim the 1st place trophy.

“I’m so proud of this group,” Lexington head coach Brian Hucks said. “We’ve been behind several games. There’s just no quick in this team. We talked about our culture and what we believe in and they just fight to the last out. They were down this entire game, but they came back and got it down. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

River Bluff led 3-0 through 3 innings. University of South Carolina signee David Cromer put the Wildcats on the board with a home run to leftfield in the bottom 4th. River Bluff made it 4-1 in the top 5th on a RBI fielder’s choice by Prestone Sansone.

Lexington rallied for 2 runs in the bottom 5th. After Landon McMahon was hit by reliever Zach Cowart to lead off, he scored on All-Tournament team selection Ryan Toll’s RBI triple.

Tristan Allen, who pitched 7 innings in the 8-5 win over Summerville that sent Lexington to the Invitational final, followed with a RBI single.

River Bluff loaded the bases in the 6th and picked up a run a wild pitch by McMahon.

With runners on 1st and 2nd and 2 outs, McMahan loaded the bases after he was hit by Cowart. Facing a final strike, Toll sent a groundball through the infield into rightfield to bring home the gametying runs.

All-Academic team selection Tristan Allen was at the plate when Cowart’s 0-1 pitch went past his catcher. McMahon was then able to beat the tag at homeplate and was immediately mobbed by his teammates.

River Bluff faced North Augusta at Segra Park in Columbia Wednesday. The Gators then make a trip to USC-Aiken Thursday to meet Aiken High School.

Lexington will have 3 non-region games this week. It started Wednesday at home against A.C. Flora, followed by two games at Segra Park Friday against Gilbert at 6:30 pm and Spring Valley the following day at 4:30 pm.

HOME RUN DERBY

For the 3rd year in a row, River Bluff was able to claim bragging rights in the Home Run Derby.

Clemson University signee Alex Urban successfully defended his Home Run Derby title.

With University of South Carolina quarterback Ryan Hilinski in attendance, Urban was among 12 competitors who combined to hit 80 home runs in The Swamp, resulting in $4,000 raised in donations for St. Baldrick’s Foundation in their effort to fight pediatric cancer.

Naturchem Invitational organizer Jeff Parsons said an additional $2,750 was raised through online donations, bringing the total to $6,750.

Lexington’s Student in Action also held a fundraiser as well that also raised funds for St. Baldrick’s Foundation.