The Dillon Wildcats closed out the regular season with a series of wins, capping their run with a 13-12 win over Aynor on Friday night in varsity baseball action.

The Wildcats traveled to Waccamaw just before spring break for a 10-0 win over the Warriors in five innings.

Dillon’s Weston Bailey lead off the game with a home run to put the Wildcats up 1-0 in the first inning. Waccamaw’s Andrew Richert singled in the bottom of the inning and advanced all the way to third before the last two Warrior batters struck out.

In the second, Dillon took advantage of two walks and three hit by pitches to help load the bases and singles from Jarvis Graves, Patrick Herring, and Omar McCollum earned the Wildcats seven runs for an 8-0 lead. Graves singled again in the third and Weston Bailey reached on a walk, and both scored runs to seal Dillon’s 10-0 win.

On the mound for the Wildcats, Weston Bailey pitched all five innings, facing 20 batters for five hits, one walk, and six outs.

On the mound for Waccamaw, Justin Busby pitched three innings for two hits and four outs; Carter Cox pitched 1.3 innings for three earned runs, two hits, and three walks; Ethan Leatherwood pitched 0.6 innings for two earned runs, one hit, and two walks; and Levi Almond faced five batters for five runs and three hits.

At bat for Dillon, Weston Bailey went 1-for-2 with a home run, one RBI, one stolen base, and three runs scored, also reaching once on a walk and once on a hit by pitch; Omar McCollum went 3-for-4 with three RBI and one run scored; Patrick Herring went 2-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored; Jarvis Graves went 2-for-3 with one RBI, two stolen bases, and two runs scored; Joseph Scott picked up one RBI with one run scored; Duncan Callahan scored one run with one RBI; Austin Moody picked up one RBI; and Dekendrick Graves added one run on a walk.

At bat for Waccamaw, Curtis Lawing went 2-for-2; Carter Cox went 1-for-2; and Jack Monroe and Andrew Richert each went 1-for-3.

In the field, Dillon’s Patrick Herring made six put outs; Austin Moody made five; Weston Bailey made two, and Omar McCollum and Dekendrick Graves each made one. Hayes also made three assists, and Joseph Scott made two.

On Wednesday, April 16, the Wildcats traveled to Manning for an 8-0 win over the Monarchs in seven innings.

Dillon scored their first run in the top of the second inning with Kaleb Page reaching base on a hit by pitch. In the top of the third, Bailey reached on a hit by pitch and and Patrick Herring singled for the RBI. McCollum reached on a walk and Page and Moody singled for four runs to put the Wildcats up 5-0.

In the fifth, Page reached on a walk for another run, and in the seventh, Moody singled and Dekendrick Graves reached on a walk to seal the win for the Wildcats at 8-0.

Bailey earned the win on the mound for Dillon, pitching three innings and facing 10 batters for one walk and eight outs. Callahan got the save, pitching four innings and facing 13 batters for one hit, one walk, and eight outs.

On the mound for Manning, W. Gardener pitched six innings and faced 33 batters for seven hits, six runs, five earned runs, four walks, and four outs. Player Gardener pitched one inning, facing six batters for three walks, two hits, and two earned runs.

At bat for Dillon, Austin Moody went 2-for-3 with three RBI and one stolen base; Patrick Herring went 2-for-4 with two RBI, with one run, and three stolen bases; Callahan went 1-for-4 with one RBI and one stolen base; Bailey reached on a hit by pitch for one run and one stolen base; McCollum went 1-for-3 with one stolen base and one run; Page went 1-for-2 with one RBI, three stolen bases, and three runs scored; Dekendrick Graves went 1-for-2 with one stolen base; Gunnar Grossetti scored one run after reaching on a walk; and Charles Sowells went 1-for-1 with one run scored and one stolen base.

At bat for Manning, Player Gardener went 1-for-2 for the Monarchs’ only hit.

In the field, Patrick Herring made 18 put outs for Dillon, with McCollum, Scott, and Moody each adding one. Scott also made one assist.

On Wednesday, April 23, Dillon earned an 11-1 win over Loris at home in Dillon in six innings.

Loris scored their lone run in the top of the first inning with Tanner Cox reaching on a walk and Kolin Causey singling for the RBI. Dillon didn’t get on the board until the third inning, with Herring and McCollum each singling to reach base. Herring scored on a passed ball and McCollum scored on a wild pitch to put Dillon up 2-1. The Wildcats picked up another run in the fourth when Joseph Scott singled to reach base.

Then in the bottom of the sixth, the Wildcats broke loose for eight runs with moody, Scott, Herring, McCollum, and Page each singling and Bailey reaching on a walk to end the game on the run rule.

On the mound for the Wildcats, Callahan earned the win, pitching four innings and facing 16 batters for two hits, two walks, one earned run, and seven outs. Bailey pitched two innings of relief, facing eight batters for two hits, striking out four.

Tanner Cox took the loss for Loris, pitching 5.6 innings and facing 34 batters for 11 earned runs, 17 hits, two walks, two hit by pitch, and three outs.

At bat for the Wildcats, Joseph Scott went 3-for-3 with a stolen base and two runs; Herring and McCollum each went 3-for-4 with two runs and Herring picked up two RBI; Callahan went 2-for-4; Moody went 2-for-4 with one RBI and two runs; Page went 2-for-3 with two RBI and one run; Bailey went 1-for-1 with one RBI and one run; and Dekendrick Graves went 1-for-2 with one RBI and one run.

At bat for Loris, Kolin Causey went 1-for-3 with one RBI, and Tanner Chock, Stacy Dozier, and Austin Hord each went 1-for-2. Dozier and Hord each stole a base and Tanner Cox scored the only run for Loris on a walk.

In the field, Herring made 11 put outs with one assist for Dillon; Moody made four put outs; Dekendrick Graves made two put outs, one assist; Scott made one put out; and Callahan and Page each made one assist.

On Friday night, Dillon faced one of their toughest games of the season as they hosted Aynor for a 13-12 win.

The Wildcats scored first in the bottom of the first and second innings for a 2-0 lead, but Aynor picked up five runners in the top of the third to pull ahead. Dillon rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth and added three in sixth for a 12-5 lead. But the Blue Jackets broke loose for seven runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game 12-12.

In the bottom of the seventh, McCollum singled to score Bailey from second for the winning run, giving the Wildcats a 13-12 win and a 10-0 record in Region 8-2A.

Moody got the win on the mound for the Wildcats, pitching one inning for three hits, two runs, one earned run, two walks, and one out. Dillon’s McCollum was the starting pitcher. Aynor’s Richardson took the loss, pitching one inning for three hits, three runs, three earned runs, and two walks.

At bat for Dillon, Moody went 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI; Ethan Hayes went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI; Callahan went 2-for-4 with a home run and one RBI; Herring went 3-for-5 with one RBI; and McCollum went 1-for-4 with two RBI. Dillon had 14 hits in the win.

At bat for Aynor, Brandon Young went 2-for-3 with two RBI and Quinn Prosser went 1-for-3 with two RBI. Aynor had 12 hits and one error in the effort.

Dillon improved to 15-1 overall and went undefeated at 10-0 in Region 8-2A for first place in the region.

The Wildcats will host Region 7’s fourth place team on Thursday, May 1, in the first round of District VIII playoffs.

Photos by Johnnie Daniels/THE DILLON HERALD. Click the images below to view at full size!