Photo by Chapin baseball
By Thomas Grant Jr.
Dell Lever’s first season as Chapin baseball coach has seen the program continue its winning legacy from Scott McLeod.
The Eagles (21-9) are close to matching their second-highest win total in the past decade.
They also shared the Region 4-5A title with Lexington and River Bluff and earned the second seed for the postseason.
Now, Chapin finds itself playing for its 10th state title in school history and first since 2018. It opened the Best-of-3 series at T.L. Hanna on Tuesday and will play host to Game Two Thursday.
The Eagles are 5-0 in the post-season after getting a first-round bye. It opened with a 11-3 win over Conway, then posted two wins each other North Myrtle Beach and West Florence to reach the final.
Felix Fletcher Ruiz had five RBI and a home run during the Lower State final sweep of the Knights.
After finishing in fifth place in Region 1-5A, T.J. Hanna (17-16) emerged from the play-in game to reach the state finals for the first time since losing to Camden in 1988.
In the Upper State final series against Indian Land, the Yellow Jackets dropped Game 1 8-5 on the road. They then rallied in extra innings of Game 2 down 2-0 with three runs in the Bottom 9th for a 3-2 victory.
In Game 3, T.L. Hanna fell behind 3-0 after the first inning. The Yellow Jackets responded with five runs in the Top 2nd and starter Will Maynard threw five scoreless innings to finish off the 9-3 win last Saturday.
T.L. Hanna leads the all-time series with Chapin 4-1, including the last meeting on March 8, 2025 by an 8-5 score.
