By DAN BISER
Sports Editor

LAKE WACCAMAW - The East Columbus Gators found themselves playing in extra innings for the second time in as many games Friday night.

Only this time, the outcome was different.

The Gators, who took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning against the visiting Princeton Bulldogs, suffered a 4-3 loss in the 10th inning of their third-round playoff game.

Princeton relief pitcher Ryan Daughtry belted a solo home run in the top of the 10th inning and then retired the side when the Gators got the tying run on base to sew up the win,

Six East Columbus errors, including two in the seventh when the Bulldogs rallied to tied the score, were big factors in the loss.

“We just didn’t make the plays,” said Gator coach Karl Bracey. ‘Our kids played hard, the effort was there ... we just didn’t come up with the plays when we had to.”

East Columbus closed its season with a 13-11 record. The Gators had pulled out a 3-2 victory over Rosewood in nine innings on Tuesday.

ECHS junior lefthander Caleb Andrews struck out 14 Bulldog batters in eight innings on the mound. He was relieved by C.J. Ganus in the ninth.

Princeton, the Carolina Conference champion, had six hits while East Columbus collected eight hits, including four by rightfielder Demetrius McKelvie.

Princeton came into the game having not yielded a run in its first two games.

The Gators took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Forrest Steed reached first on an error and scored on Allen Bracey’s double over the centerfielder’s head. Bracey advanced to third on passed ball and scored on a single by Alex Sasser.

In the third inning, McKelvie hit a one-out double, took third on a deep fly-out to center by Andrews and scored on a single by Steed for a 3-0 lead.

Princeton got an unearned run in the fourth inning when Daughtry scored from third on an error of a two-out ground ball.

With one out in the top of the seventh, Pirnceton’s Dave Gerrell singled home Jared McLamb to cut the Gator lead to 3-2

Andrews then struck out Daughtry for the second out, but a roller toward first off the bat of Adam Nethercutt was misplayed and Michael Radford brought in they tying run for the Gators. The Gators got out of the inning when they threw Ferrell out at third following a slow dribble to second by Andrew Cobb.

Each team had only one hit in extra innings ... a single by Andrew for ECHS and Daughtry’s big home run for Princeton.

Princeton, which returned virtually intact from last season when it fell to eventual state finalist West Columbus 5-0 in last year’s second round, has a 20-6 record, and will play host to Topsail Tuesday in fourth-round battle of 1A powerhouses.

Along with its second-round win over Rosewood, the Gators had opened the playoffs with a 6-4 victor over Ayden-Grifton.

East Columbus will return next season with seven of its nine regular starters.

Hinton, Pate (3), Daughtry (9) and Gerrell; Andrews, Ganus (9) and Malpass.