Ben Connor, a member of the Lake Waccamaw Lions Dixie Youth Baseball team, garnered a second place finish in the Atlanta Braves region of the Pepsi Major League Baseball Pitch, Hit & Run competition at Atlanta’s Turner Field.

Connor, the son of John Connor and Sharon Connor, competed in the 11-12-year-old division and placed runnerup to a competitor from Columbus, Ga. There were four regional finalists in each age division.
According to Connor’s father, the competition came down to the hitting category. The 12-year-old Connor’s longest hit was the same distance of that of his counterpart from Georgia, but the Georgia participant came closest to the accuracy line.

Saturday evening, the PH&R finalists were introduced on the field and presented their awards just prior to the Braves’ home game with the Chicago Cubs.

Connor had won the Lake Waccamaw Pitch, Hit & Run competition in April, and then went on to win the sectional PH&R at Kinston. His sectional performance came out on top of performances from 15 other sectionals to earn the trip to Atlanta. The Atlanta finals included sectional winners from Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee.
Connor, a rising seventh grader at Hallsboro Middle School, is the first Columbus County youth player to qualify for the Atlanta Pitch, Hit and Run regional finals in 30 years.

In 1977, 9-year-old Tim Hooks of Whiteville, advanced to the Braves regional final after winning a division title at Columbia, S.C. Hooks went on to play for the 1985 Whitevile High and Whiteville Post 137 state championship baseball teams, and he played collegiately at UNC-Wilmington.