By Lonnie Turner
Dillon’s Kiwanis All Stars defeated Conway 6-3 on Thursday on their way to the 2014 South Carolina Dixie Youth Majors State Championship.
After falling behind 3-0 to the Conway All Stars in the first inning, Jared Ivey singled with runners at second and third to cut the lead to just one run and John Rourke followed with a home run over the centerfield fence to score Ivey ahead of him to give Dillon a 4-3 lead.
Collin Hamilton singled after Rourke’s homer to chase Conway starting pitcher Dever Smith from the mound with only one out. Jared Darmon greeted reliever Zach Lee with a hit, but was thrown out at second. Lee managed to get a force out at third to end the inning.
Successive singles by Nick Evans, Trent Johnson, and Amari Huggins-Bruce started the bottom of the second to produce another run and end Lee’s short time on the rubber. Barnes Causey was safe on a fielder’s choice and was credited with knocking in the final run of the game, sending Johnson across the plate.
After a rocky start on the mound by Noah Carter, he retired the side in order in the second inning and left two runners on base in the third before giving way to Tristian Brigman, who was perfect, allowing no base runners to get the save for Carter.
Rourke led the Dillon squad with two hits in two trips to the plate and others who contributed in the 10-hit attack were Cooper Lane with a double and BoBo McKinnon, who beat out an infield hit in the first inning.
Dillon proceeded on to win the state championship, defeating Lake Marion 8-1. Conway received the Sportsmanship award.
