By Lonnie Turner

The Dillon Kiwanis Dixie Youth Major League All Star team trounced Lake Marion 8-1 on Friday morning to claim the State Championship and earn the right to represent the state in the Dixie Youth Baseball World Series at Lexington, SC on August 9. The team breezed through the State Tournament without a loss, defeating Lake Marion twice, Green Sea Floyds, Conway, Jefferson, and Summerville Park Field.

On Wednesday, Dillon Kiwanis rallied for three runs in the top of the sixth inning to top Summerville Park Field American 7-4.

The Kiwanis All Stars pushed across three runs in the top of the first on consecutive singles by BoBo McKinnon, Tristian Brigman, and Jared Ivey and a two-out double by John Rourke, who started the game on the mound.

Park Field pitcher and lead-off batter Jacob Church jumped on the first pitch from Rourke for a single to start the bottom of the first, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by clean-up hitter Hayden Fowler. Park Field loaded the bases with two out and Rourke fielded a bunt and stepped on the plate to end the inning and end the scoring threat.

Church retired six of the next seven batters to end his three-inning stint on the mound and Caleb Schnee entered the game in relief. He managed to get Brigman to ground out to the first baseman, but Ivey, in his second time at the plate, hit Schnee’s second pitch over the right-centerfield fence to put Dillon up 4-1.

Jared Darmon took to the mound to start the Park Field fourth and gave up a lead-off single to Matthew Duncan, who went to second on a wild pitch. With one out, Camden Rossa singled to score Duncan and Michael Collins beat out a bunt down the third base line. Darmon settled down and got the next two batters on strikes to once again thwart a possible big scoring rally.

Trailing 4-2 going into the bottom of the fifth inning, Park loaded the bases on a single by Winston Grant and back-to-back walks. Jordan Loving promptly hit a 2-1 pitch from relief pitcher Noah Carter to right field to drive in two runs and tie the game. Carter struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

With Dillon needing a rally of some sort, Barnes Causey beat out an infield hit with one out, and, four pitches later, Carter singled sharply to center. With Loving in relief in the sixth for Park Field, BoBo McKinnon went down swinging for the second out, but Brigman hit his first pitch over the left fielder’s head to score Causey and Carter. Ivey followed with a double to right for his third hit of the game to score Brigman.

A lead-off single and an error put runners on second and third for Park Field, but Carter forced Schnee to ground out for the second out and struck out Colin Grooms on nine pitches to notch the win.

On Thursday, Dillon played Conway at noon for a 6-3 win.

In Friday’s state championship game against Lake Marion, Jared Ivey drove in two runs in the top of the first inning with his third home run in the last three games and sent three more across the plate with a single in the top of the sixth to account for five of his team’s eight runs.

John Rourke started on the mound and went five innings before giving way to left-hander Tristian Brigman, who finished the game with a strike out with two runners on base. Rourke recorded six strikeouts and allowed only two base runners through the first four innings, but left the mound after Lake Marion scored its lone run and had its first hit of the game in the fifth. Brigman pitched to one batter and forced a ground out to end the threat and get out of the inning. After Dillon scored four runs in the top of the final inning on singles by BoBo McKinnon and Ivey, Brigman promptly retired the first two batters in the bottom of the final at bat for Lake Marion, but walked the next two before retiring the last batter he faced on strikes to end the game.

Despite twelve strikeouts being recorded by four Lake Marion pitchers, other than Ivey’s two hits, Rourke drove in a run with a single in the fourth and scored when Collin Hamilton had a base hit up the middle. Jared Darmon doubled to lead off the third, but was stranded at third and Trent Johnson accounted for the eighth hit for the Dillon All Stars with a single in the fifth.

Brigman started the scoring with a two out double and crossed the plate when Ivey hit the second pitch from Jacob Ivey over the right field fence. In the fourth inning, and again with two out, the Lake Marion second baseman bobbled a ground ball off the bat of Ivey, who went to second on a wild pitch and scored when Rourke singled to left.

Lake Marion used up a lot of pitching in their previous win over Summerville Park Field that went ten innings and it proved to be one of the differences in the outcome. In the final inning when Dillon scored four, Noah Carter walked and went to second when McKinnon was safe on a base hit to end the day on the mound for Shane Hawkins, the second pitcher used by Lake Marion. Wells Fleming came in and walked Brigman to load the bases. Ivey followed with his second hit of the game to send two of the runners home and an error in right allowed a third score.

Fleming struck out the next two batters, but walked Nick Evans, hit Cooper Lane with a pitch, and hit Darmon to force another in. Trent Johnson lined the first pitch from new relief pitcher Zach Wiles to end the inning.

The Kiwanis All Stars will take on Louisiana at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 9, in Lexington, SC.

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

Click here to see more photos from Dillon’s state championship win!