The Piedmont Kingsmen Baseball team booked their place in the Southern Collegiate Baseball Leagues championship series on Tuesday night at York Comprehensive High School, defeating the #2 seed Mooresville Spinners by a score of 5-2.
Richard De La Cruz paced the Red and Blue offense in the semi-final game, collecting three RBI’s on a 2-for-3 night for the Belmont Abbey College attendee. De La Cruz gave the Pride the lead in the fifth inning on a RBI single, and then extending the Red and Blue lead to 4-1 with a 2 RBI triple in the home half of the seventh inning.
It will be the first time the Pride have reached the championship series since 2017, when they defeated the SBA Bones for Coach Hudaks first ever SCBL postseason tournament title.
Austin Blakely picked up his third win of the summer for the Pride. The Citadel College attendee struck out two over 6.0 innings of work, allowing just one run on four hits. Blakely moves to 3-1 on the summer.
Dawson Gause recorded his second save for the Red and Blue of the summer, not allowing a hit in 2.0 innings of relief work out of the bullpen.
The Pride will have to wait until Thursday night to find out who they will have to face in the championship round. The Pride (2-0) will only have to win one game to clinch the title.
