By Bru Nimmons
Sports Editor
bnimmons@thepccourier.com

EASLEY — Heading to bat with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, Easley freshman Maddox Raby felt the weight of the world on his shoulders during the opening game of the Green Wave’s best-of-three playoff series against Woodmont on Monday night.

The Green Wave hadn’t led through the entirety of the contest, but with the bases loaded, it felt like it was now or never for Easley to pull ahead in the crucial playoff matchup.

Raby watched the first strike go by the plate, then had a swing and a miss, putting him way behind in the count.

“I’m a seven-hole hitter, so I’m expecting fastball,” Raby said of his thought process as he headed to the plate. “I got the two strikes early, so I just had to choke up on the bat knowing that I had to get the job done and just poke something out.”

Raby settled himself for the third pitch, a pitch that was close enough to the zone that the Woodmont faithful started to celebrate, only for Raby’s eye to be proven true as it was called a ball.

“I was a little worried,” Raby said of taking the pitch. “I trusted my gut that it was a little outside and low.”

Now facing a 1-2 count, the freshman designated hitter came through for the Green Wave with a drive down the left field line, scoring two runs to give Easley a 4-3 lead before Ayden Beeco was called out advancing to third base.

From there, Levi Holcombe closed the door on the Wildcats with little issue in the top of the seventh as the Green Wave pulled off the 4-3 come-from-behind win.

“This is what Easley baseball has been doing all season,” Raby said. “We’ll get down, but you’ll never see any of these guys give up.”

Easley head coach Gill Payne didn’t deny that he had his worries about the scenario after watching two of the Green Wave’s top hitters, Cooper Sears and Walker Cox, strike out with the bases loaded.

“I’m thinking ‘Do I safety squeeze my top hitter to try and tie this thing up?’,” Payne said. “I decided to let him swing, and when he struck out and the freshman came to the plate, I was thinking ‘Maybe I’m an idiot,’ but what a big at-bat for that kid. He’s been getting better and better. He hit .310 for us in region play, and right now he’s playing hurt.”

Both sides seemed to be trying to figure the other out in the opening innings before the Wildcats got on the scoreboard first in the third inning. Jacob Prevatte picked up a one-out single on Cox, a South Carolina baseball commit and the Green Wave’s ace. Two passed balls allowed the Wildcats to bring Prevatte home, and an error on a fly ball to right field scored another as Woodmont took a 2-0 lead before Cox got out of the inning.

The Green Wave didn’t manage to pick up their first hit off Wildcat ace Carson Smith until the fourth inning, but they took advantage of an error as Woodmont tried to throw Cox out as he stole second base, allowing Connor Hall to score and cut the lead to 2-1.

Cox ran into some issues with his command in the top of the fifth inning, walking two batters and giving up a single to Woodmont’s Ethan Quillen before Payne made the decision to turn to Holcombe in relief. Holcombe got a force out at the plate on a fielder’s choice, but a misplaced throw by Sears traveled into the outfield and put the Wildcats ahead 3-1 before Holcombe could escape the inning.

The Green Wave continued to struggle against Smith until a leadoff single from Colton Irvin got Easley going in the bottom of the sixth inning. On the first pitch of the next at-bat, Irvin took off from first, taking advantage of contact from Trey Kicklighter and an error by Scott to cut the score to 3-2. Holcombe then kept the momentum in favor of the Green Wave with a perfectly timed hit-and-run double that moved Kicklighter to third base.

“After we got within one, I was just going to sac bunt and get him to second with my four and five coming up,” Payne said. “We didn’t get the bunt down, so I said ‘Let’s just hit and run. At least we’ll have a chance, because Levi can swing a little bit.’”

Scott rallied to strike out Sears and Cox, but walked Beeco to give Raby his chance at glory with the bases loaded and two outs. The freshman delivered with his go-ahead single, scoring two runs as the Wave pulled out the one-run win.

The Green Wave didn’t have a chance to celebrate for long, as they took a return trip to Piedmont for game two of the series against the Wildcats on Tuesday night, with results unavailable at press time.

Should the Green Wave pull out the series against Woodmont, they would move on to face Nation Ford on Saturday.