South Florence pitcher Aydin Palmer strikes out 17 in win over Hartsville

FLORENCE, S.C. — A few postgame jogs did nothing to calm Aydin Palmer.

Top-ranked South Florence’s senior ace had just struck out 17 of 21 Hartsville batters and went 3 for 3 at the plate during the Bruins’ 6-0 Tuesday win.

“It’s always personal playing teams in your region,” Palmer said of the Region 6-4A opener for both teams. “You bring a lot of fire and a lot of energy. That’s what did it tonight: The energy.”

It soon became apparent this was Palmer’s night.

“After that first inning, I felt electric,” Palmer said. “We started to come through with some big hits, and I felt my fastball was working good and was throwing some good curveballs to keep them off balance.”

At one point, while Palmer was in the middle of striking out eight Red Foxes in a row, he stepped to the plate after already hitting a single and two-run double. Hartsville had seen enough of him and dealt him an intentional walk.

“The biggest thing was to keep the focus at the plate and on the mound,” Palmer said.

It was a showcase performance worthy of a showcase game between the Bruins (7-0 overall, 1-0 region) and No. 8 Hartsville at the Red Foxes’ Jimmy White Park.

Palmer, who finished Tuesday with 105 pitches, was three strikeouts shy of tying the program record for one game. He is now 12 strikeouts shy of tying the Bruin career strikeout record held by the late Todd Martin (274).

After going seven innings, Palmer appeared he could have gone seven more. He was ready, and Bruin coach Kenny Gray knew it.

“We’ve been building to this game tonight,” said Gray, whose team is 7-0. “It’s a region game, and we knew how important this game was tonight. All region games are important. We just wanted to make sure he was ready to go.”

Boy, was he ever.

“When he came out in the first inning, he looked strong and we saw he was doing well,” Gray said. “He got stronger, and he just kept going.”

All Hartsville could do was try to get a bat on something. Palmer allowed two hits, both to junior Grayson Weekley, whose fourth-inning double snapped Palmer’s streak of eight strikeouts.

It didn’t take Red Fox Tony Gainey long to explain the difference in this game.

“That big, left-handed pitcher,” quipped Gainey, whose team was last year’s state runner-up in Class 4A.

After stranding a runner at third in the first, South scored one in the second, three in the third, another in the fourth and one more in the seventh.

Courtesy runner James McElveen scored on a second-inning error, and it was 1-0. Although South left that inning with the bases loaded, more runs were coming. Darius Douglas executed a hit-and-run with Wyatt Williams at the plate, and Williams’ single put runners at second and third. Up next was Palmer, who hit his two-run double to left for a 3-0 advantage.

The next batter, Hunter McClary, added an RBI double to make it 4-0.

After Noah Moore hit an RBI single in the fourth, the Bruins added their final run with Hunter Matthews’ run-scoring single in the seventh. Matthews and Williams each finished 2 for 4.

The two teams will face off again at 6:30 p.m. Friday on the Bruins’ home field with South’s projected starter being Dylan Wiegel.

“Hartsville is a great baseball team,” Gray said. “For us to be able to come here and get the victory, we’re very fortunate we played well and got the win. But now, we’ve got to get ready for Friday.”

But that’s Friday. On Tuesday, Palmer thought his team made a strong statement.

“We’re No. 1 in the state tonight. Period,” he said.

SF;013;100;1—6;10;0

H;000;000;0—0;2;3

WP — Palmer (7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 17 K, 3 BB). LP — Dawson Lloyd (3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 K, 3 BB).

LEADING HITTERS — SF: Palmer 3-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Williams 2-4; Matthews 2-4, RBI. H: Weekley 2-3, 2B.

RECORDS — SF 7-0 overall, 1-0 Region 6-4A; H 4-4, 0-1.