There was no joy in Chronicle Country for its 2 remaining S.C. American Baseball Summer League teams.

Both Lexington Post 7 and West Columbia suffered setbacks in their quest to reach the Final 4 of the S.C. American Baseball Summer League tournament.

In the case of Post 7, it’s 2020 season came to a halt once again at the hands of a perennial playoff nemesis. Sumter Post 15 completed a 2-game sweep of Lexington with a 16-6 road victory at Roscoe Frye Field.

Lexington took a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st on a RBI double by Chapin’s Noah Davis and RBI single by newly-promoted infielder Bennett Robinson.

Sumter took control with a 9-run 3rd inning. It capitalized off 4 walks, 2 hit batsman and 3 wild pitches along with 2 of Lexington’s 6 errors.

Lexington rallied for 4 runs in the Bottom 4th. Cam Ferrell of River Bluff had an RBI fielder’s choice, fellow Gator Jacob Lebron of Newberry had an RBI triple and both Davis and Robinson drove in their 2nd runs of the game on singles.

Sumter answered with 4 runs off reliever Alex McGinty in the top of the 5th. Brennan Jones and Seth Posey each had RBI walks and Brandon Arnold followed with a 2-run single.

Post 7 put the finishing touches on the series win with a 3-run homer by Stanley Johnson in the Top 7th.

Lexington finished the season with a 12-9-1 record.

As the Bracket 2 winner, Sumter will face on Friday the Bracket 4 champion between West Columbia and Florence.

POST 79 affected by pandemic

This past Monday, Post 79 head coach Dargan Lybrand revealed crushing news in a “dream season”. An unindentified player was revealed to have tested positive for covid-19.

The rest of the team received tests, with those that returned showing negative results, according to Lybrand.

Game 1 of the Best-of-3 series was moved back a day and to Legion Field in Florence. Game 2 and Game 3 (if necessary) would take place Wednesday at Midlands Sports Complex in West Columbia.

In addition to the stricken player, West Columbia lost the services of pitcher Sam LaFrage. Like Lexington Post 7’s Travis Elliott of Gilbert, the Airport High graduate reported to The Citadel.