HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL

Mother Nature was the “official” champion of the 2019 Naturchem Invitational.

River Bluff High was an “unofficial” winner.

Rainfall delayed nearly 2 days of baseball at the 4th annual event.

The massive rescheduling allowed all 12 participating teams to play 3 games, but there will be no championship game.

The Gators completed an undefeated 3-game run Sunday with a 7-1 victory over Sumter in 5 innings.

All-Tournament team selection Ricky Williams and Preston Sansone both drove in 2 runs and William Chastain pitched 3 scoreless innings after allowing the Gators’ only run in the three victories.

River Bluff joined North Augusta as the tournament’s only 3-0 teams. The Gators finished the Invitational having outscored Belton-Honea Path (10-0), Camden (3-0) and Sumter by a 20-1 margin. By comparision, the Yellow Jackets’ margin of victory in 3 games was 10-3.

“The thing we did this weekend is that we pitched well,” River Bluff head coach Mark Bonnette said. “We gave up 1 run in 3 games. We’ve got a lot of shoes to fill from the past couple of years and then we had some guys step up on the mound and we wanted to see what they could do and they threw strikes, they competed and we played really good defense all weekend. So we fielded groundballs, made the routine plays and, when you do that, you give yourselves a chance.”

Chronicle Country teams Dutch Fork (2-1), Lexington (2-1) and Airport (1-1-1) also took part in the tournament.

River Bluff also held the distinction of serving as host site of the Home Run Derby and having its representive win the title. Alex Urban beat out 11 other sluggers from each of the participating Invitational Schools to win the event.

In the opening round and final, he accounted for 20 of the 66 homers hit. At $50 each thanks in part to matching donations from sponsors, the Home Run Derby drew $3,300 to go with over $550 in raffle tickets sold by Lexington High School’s Students in Action.

All of the proceeds will go to the St. Baldrick’s Pediatric Cancer Foundation, an organization which helps children inflicted with the disease.

The 2-time defending Class 5A Lower State champions will continue non-region play over next 2 weeks. River Bluff will have 2 games against defending SCISA Class 3A champion Cardinal Newman, led by former White Knoll head coach Charles Assey, and 2 against North Augusta.

The Gators open Region 5-5A play March 18 in The Swamp against Dutch Fork.

“It’s so important for us to play good people because our region is so good top to bottom,” Bonnette said. “Every night, it’s going to be a playoff atmosphere. It’s going to be a battle and now, with a 3-game series, it’s going to be really competitive. So this helps us by facing good pitching, good teams, so this definitely prepares us for what’s coming.”