Pictured are the six seniors on the Powdersville baseball team who played on Saturday in Greenville at Fluor Field. The Patriots ended up losing 8-3 to River Bluff. From (L to R) are: Logan Goss, Chance Kennedy, Landon Fowler, Blane Jordan, Landon Childress and Gavin Psychas. (Courtesy photo).
GREENVILLE — For the Powdersville baseball team, it was the type of game that you can throw the final score out the window.
They got to play some great competition at a minor league ballpark.
The end result was the Patriots losing an 8-3 decision to a tough River Bluff’s team, which was played at Fluor Field and the home of the Greenville Drive.
“First of all, thanks to the (Greenville) Drive,” said Powdersville coach Wade Padgett. “We’ve been fortunate to play in a lot of these games and it means the world to our kids. Over the summer, when they set this up and they said it was River Bluff, I didn’t care. Good competition is going to make us better. It is not our c0nference. We viewed the preseason – in January and February and these two or three weeks until we hit conference play – we just need to figure out our best options to get out there. Games like this give us a lot of answers. It might not be at the plate. It might be how engaged you are in the game when you are not in and how focused you are.”
The starting lineup for Powdersville on Saturday was: Chance Kennedy (shortstop), Landon Fowler (Third Base), Kaden Whitmer (Second Base), Blane Jordan (Center field), Stephen Hudgins (Designated Hitter), Logan Goss (First Base), CJ White (Left Field), Landon Childress (Right Field), Josiah Bell (Catcher) and Gavin Psychas (Pitcher). Substitutes for Powdersville: Eli Brown, Dashton Brown, Sam Holmes, Jack Jarisch and Jackson Sikes. Clemson-bound Fowler also came in to throw a scoreless inning in relief.
River Bluff’s climbed to 5-1 on the season and will start region play this week.
“We are a young team,” said River Bluff coach Mark Bonnette, who also played four years of baseball at Newberry College. “In the last two years, we’ve graduated 27 guys. We won the state championship in 2023 and all these guys are new – we only return one to two starters this year. Getting to play in this cool atmosphere in a minor league park … I can’t say enough how accommodating the Greenville Drive was to us. To allow high school teams to come here and take in and out before the game and use the cages. They were so good to us. For this young team we have (only three seniors), it was a such a good experience. Today was fun. They enjoyed it.”
It marks the 12th year of baseball at River Bluffs and Bonnette has coached the team the entire 12 years.
Reach Jeff Holt at 864-855-0355.