By DAN BISER
Sports Editor

LAKE WACCAMAW - East Columbus High head baseball coach Karl Bracey and his Gator players have looked at the state 1A playoffs as a whole new season.

“The regular season was a roller coaster ride for us,” Bracey said. “We had to battle through some struggles and do a little soul-searching, but with the playoffs, we’ve had the opportunity to turn things around.”

The opportunity arose big-time for the Gators on Tuesday as they pulled out a 3-2 nine-inning victory over the visiting Rosewood Eagles in a second-round home game.

ECHS, the top-seeded 1A team from the Waccamaw 1A-2A Conference, got the winning run when Laython Ward beat out a grounder to the hole at shortstop to score Alex Sasser from third with the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. In the top of the ninth, ECHS first-baseman Forrest Steed fired a relay throw to nab a Rosewood runner at the plate and prevent the go-ahead run.

East Columbus, now carrying a 13-10 record, will play host to Carolina Conference champion Princeton (19-6) Friday at 7 p.m., in third-round play. Princeton advanced Tuesday with a 5-0 shutout over Wallace-Rose Hill.

C.J. Ganus was the winning pitcher for East Columbus after relieving starter Caleb Andrews in the fifth inning. Andrews struck out 11 batters, walked eight and hit a batter.

Alex Williamson and Demetrius McKelvie each had two hits for East Columbus with Williamson knocking a run-scoring double and McKelvie also driving in a run.

Rosewood, which scored single runs in the third and fifth innings, was held to three hits. The Eagles, runnerup in the Carolina Conference, closed their season with a 17-6 record.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Sasser drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch and sprinted all the way to third when a pitch to Ward bounced in the dirt and traveled part-way up the backstop.

Ward followed with his hit that was contained by the Rosewood shortstop deep into the hole toward third, but the throw was not there in time and the winning run scored.

“Our kids played hard,” said Bracey, whose squad had opened the playoffs with a 6-4 win over Ayden-Grifton last Friday. “They went up against a good team and played hard all the way. As long as we keep giving a good effort, I think we’re okay.”

Rosewood got a runner on board in the top of the ninth and it appeared that the Eagles were going to bring in the go-ahead run when a line-drive to rightfield popped out of McKelvie’s glove and rolled to the fence. McKelvie quickly retrieved the ball and made the relay throw to Steed. Steed turned and gunned the ball home to catcher Chad Malpass, who applied the tag-out.

“We did what we had to win the game,” Coach Bracey said. “We came out focused.”

East Columbus has advanced to third round play for the first time since 2003 when it gained a berth in the state 2A finals.

NOTE: In the East Columbus vs. Ayden-Grifton game story in the May 14 issue, Forrest Steed’s two hits, including a key two-run double, were inadvertently left out of the summary.

Neal, Richards (8) and Smeltzer; Andrews, Ganus (5) and Malpass.