Content about Baseball

Brian and Jordan Beatson, son and grandson of Kenneth and Virginia Beatson of Manning, are heading to the Little League Majors All-Stars Southeast Regionals in Georgia on Aug. 5-12. Jordan is a member of the Irmo Little League team where his father is a co-coach. Brian was a star baseball player at Laurence Manning Academy and Manning-Santee Post 68. He was also a co-captain of the University of South Carolina baseball team during his tenure there.

The Manning-Santee Post 68 American Legion baseball team split its first two games in state playoffs.

On Saturday, Post 68 played Easley Post 62 and came away with an 11-9 victory.

Tied 9-9 in the ninth inning, the play of the game was a squeeze play.

Jack Martin was up to bat and he bunted, allowing Justin Powell to score from third giving Manning the go-ahead score.

“That was picture perfect,” said Head Coach G.G. Cutter.

Michael Keels later scored to put Manning up by two.

Manning's Post 68 American Legion team was victorious in the opening round of the state tournament, Manning beat Easley, 11-9 at Charleston Southern University.

The win advances them to the second round where they will face Sumter at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Tomorrow's game will also be held at Charleston Southern.

Manning-Santee is headed to Charleston.

The Manning-Santee Post 68 American Legion baseball team defeated Camden Post 17, 6-2 Sunday evening in an elimination game to earn a spot in the state playoffs.

To say they played a good game is an understatement, especially for power hitter Heath Smith and pitcher Matt Mays.

Smith drilled a pair of home runs en route to a two-for-three, four RBI outing.

The other big story of the night was right-hand pitcher, Matt Mays.

The Manning-Santee American Post 68 Legion baseball team routed West Ashley 13-3 in seven innings Saturday to stay alive in the lower state playoffs.

The win improves Manning’s record to 17-13 overall.

“We played well,” said Head Coach G.G. Cutter. “We played relaxed.”

Manning started Justin Powell who threw a solid game.

He threw 6 and 2/3 innings, allowing three runs, seven hits, two strikeouts and four walks.

Zach Graham came in to get the final out and helped secure the win for Manning-Santee.

The Manning-Santee American Legion baseball team started the second round of the lower state playoffs on the wrong end of the stick.

After defeating Conway Post 111 3-2 in the opening round, they faced rival Sumter Post 15 in the second round and are already down 0-2 in the series.

The first game was a 13-0 loss on July 12.

P-15 pitcher Jordan Montgomery threw a complete game shutout, throwing seven innings with 10 strikeouts, four hits and no runs or walks.

Despite being 0-2 in the American Legion best-of-five playoffs series, the Manning-Legion Post 68 American Legion baseball team pounded out 19 hits and three homeruns en route to a 15-3 rout of Conway Friday night.

Manning’s bats came alive and did not disappear the entire night.

Heath Smith was the leading batter as he went four-for-five with a homerun and two doubles.

“He really hit the ball well tonight,” said Head Coach G.G. Cutter.

Playing with a chip on their shoulders gave the Manning-Santee Post 68 American Legion baseball team a way to peak at the right time.

Manning ended its 2011 regular season schedule with a 3-1 record last week and 12-8 overall.

They began the week with a 15-6 loss to Dalzell on June 27, but rebounded with three wins over Camden, Hartsville and Cheraw.

On June 28, Manning defeated Camden 7-3.

Pitcher Zan Beasley pitched a complete game giving up one earned run, four hits, three walks and gathered six strikeouts.

The Manning-Santee Post 68 American Legion baseball team faced Sumter for the fourth and final time Friday night and despite an 0-3 record against the P-15s, they had high hopes of winning the last one.

However, that grit began to slow and ended with a 2-0 loss Friday night at Monarch Field.

“I’m proud of our boys; they stayed in there and battled,” said Head Coach G.G. Cutter. “We are going to continue to battle.”

Sumter utilized their two-headed monster of pitcher Josh Kisamore and hitter Blake Graham.

The Manning-Santee Post 68 American Legion baseball split their last two contests between Cheraw and the Sumter P-15s.

On June 23, Manning easily downed Cheraw following a 13-3 shellacking.

The game was played in seven innings due to the mercy rule.

“We played good defense and got pretty good pitching,” said Head Coach G.G. Cutter.

Despite the output of runs and high offensive performance, Manning actually had to overcome a 2-0 deficit early in the game.

It was one of those games where both teams played sloppily even though one came out on top, and the other came out on bottom.

So it was for the Manning-Santee Post 68 American Legion baseball team as they fell to the Sumter P-15s 9-8 last Thursday night.

In a game marked by errors, lead changes and controversial plays, Manning-Santee was in it all the way to the end but did not have enough gas in the tank.

Trailing 8-7 in the top of the ninth, Jamal Keels and Heath Smith both struck out, leaving the comeback hopes to Corey Brown.

The Manning-Santee Post 68 American Legion baseball team suffered its fifth loss, and its third to Sumter, in a 9-8 decision, Thursday night.

Manning-Santee’s Mike Keels sent the game’s opening pitch to deep left center for a double and later scored for a quick 1-0 lead.

That score remained until the bottom of the fourth when the P-15s scored four runs to take a 4-1 advantage.

The teams began to exchange runs and the lead until the eighth inning.