By Thomas Grant Jr.
Both the Irmo and Dutch Fork baseball teams are off to strong starts.
The Yellow Jackets opened the week with a 9-0 win over Mountain View Prep on Teacher Appreciation Night. Wayland Garland had a 2-run homer and Hunter Parsons struck out five and allowed two hits in six shutout innings.
On Thursday, Irmo defeated Newberry 8-1 as Jayllen Fray drove in two runs and Cooper Starling allowed three hits and struck out four in 5 1/3 innings.
The next night, the Yellow Jackets rolled past Spring Valley 16-2. Braylon Graham and Davis Gepper each drove in two runs, Reece Dawkins, and Cooper Klosterrman both had two hits and an RBI and Kyler Bakerr struck out five and allowed three hits.
Irmo (7-2) opened Region 4-5A play Tuesday at defending Class 5A champion Lexington.
Dutch Fork posted back-to-back double-digit victories. The Silver Foxes shut out Dreher 16-0 as Josh Jackson went 3-3 with a home run and five RBI and Luciano Cesario went 2-2 with three RBI.
Ethan Offing drove in two runs, Raleigh Salters went 3-4 and Bryan Loebs struck out seven in four scoreless innings.
On Saturday, Coleman Fryer drove in four runs and Cesario added three RBI in a 13-3 win over Greer. Offing had a 3-run homer and Candler Morden went 2-3.
Dutch Fork (5-1) opened region play at Chapin.
Irmo’s Reece Dawkins, Nolan Mays and Jayllen Fray. Photo from Irmo baseball
