Manning-Santee Post 68 downs Hartsville 11-3

It was a game where their bats came alive, scoring lots of runs.

The Manning-Santee Post 68 American Legion baseball team gained its eighth win of the season with an 11-3 rout of Hartsville, Tuesday night.

The win already improves their win total from a year ago with seven.

“It was a good game,” said Head Coach G.G. Cutter. “We played pretty decent.”

Manning was without two of their top three batters.

Brothers Jamal and Mike Keels were absent so Post 68 had to rely on stout pitching.

Zan Beasley started on the mound and did not disappoint.

He threw six and 1/3 innings allowing two runs, five strikeouts and one earned run.

“He gave us some timely pitching,” Cutter said.

Rashad Murphy relieved Beasley and was credited with the save and finished the game allowing just one run and striking out four.

Heath Smith gave Manning-Santee its first lead in the second inning with a two-run homerun.

The score remained until Hartsville scored cutting the lead to 2-1. Each team scored again making the score 3-2 and it remained until late in the game.

Miscues and fatigue caught up with Hartsville in the final two innings as Manning scored five runs in the eighth and three in the ninth to take the lopsided win.

Manning accumulated 11 hits in the victory.

Chris Kellahan, Rashad Murphy, Jack Martin, Douglas Ard and Heath Smith all had hits on the night.

With the victory, Manning improves to 8-6 overall.

They are now in third place behind first-place Sumter and second-place Camden.

Their next game will be Thursday at home versus Cheraw at 7:30 p.m.