EASLEY — “It’s going to be a heartbreaker when these guys (the seniors) leave this year.”
Those were the words of Easley junior Jake “Boogie” Davenport after making his first-ever varsity appearance last week in an 11-1 victory over Belton.
It was the final regular-season game. You could hear the Green Wave players hollering from the dugout as Davenport took the mound.
You could feel it in the air and Green Wave Coach Gill Payne had no choice but to play the dedicated Davenport.
“We had lost three one-run games and I kept telling the guys that’s just baseball,” said Payne. “We turned it around and got eight runs in the first inning (against Belton). The guys going into the game said let’s get Jake (Davenport) in the game and I said alright give me 10 runs. They were all excited when he got in.”
Just last week, Davenport was featured in The Easley Progress newspaper for being such an inspiration to the EHS team despite not playing at all this season.
But senior Trey Kicklighter – right after last week’s game against Belton – lit right up when talking about the memorable game that Davenport got to play in.
“It’s just awesome,” Kicklighter said. “Boogie hasn’t been able to play all year. We got a good lead against a pretty decent team and he got to come in. It’s awesome for all of us because he’s spark for our team. He’s our rally starter I’d say. We just love him to death, and it’s fun to see him come in and throw strikes, and get to cheer him on.”
Senior Banks Gambrell led the Easley offense with a 2-for-2 performance at the plate and Cole Irvin was 2-for-4. Also getting hits for EHS were: Cooper Sears (1-2), Ayden Beeco (1-2), Maddox Raby (1-2), Noah Burnett (1-2), Kicklighter (1-3) and Walker Cox (1-3).
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