Boiling Springs Wins 2026 Steve Sanders Tournament

As Fifth Third Park enters its second season of hosting baseball games, the state-of-the-art home of the Hub City Spartanburgers made more history on Tuesday night by beginning a new chapter to a storied local tradition. The park hosted its first-ever high school games on Tuesday night as part of what is hoped to be an annual celebration – the championship and third place games of the Steve Sanders Spartanburg County Preseason Baseball Tournament. 

The unofficial start of the season named for former Herald Journal prep sportswriter Steve Sanders and was the first to feature all the public schools from a single county competing against one another in South Carolina history, dates back to the late 90s has been both a source of pride and bragging rights for the winner and a good showcase of the talent in the Spartanburg area. It has been played in such storied venues as Jim Everhart Field at Inman Mills and Duncan Park and now, Fifth Third Park got the chance to etch its name in the lore of the tournament. 

The first high school game to be played in the home of the Texas Rangers’ High-A affiliate was the third place game between the Byrnes Rebels and the Chesnee Eagles – a rematch of the tourney opener for both squads that resulted in a 12-5 Rebel victory on Saturday night in Duncan. This time, the contest would be much more competitive with Byrnes jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd on a 2 out RBI single from Emory Yarrell that capitalized on a 1 out walk. Yarrell drove in another run on a sacrifice fly in the 4th and Blake Collins dealt the only extra base hit of the game in the 5th – a triple down the right field line and all the way to the corner that plated Caine Rogers, who led off the inning with a single. Ayden Dempsey would tack on their 4th and final run on another sac fly to make it 4-0 heading to the 6th. 

The Eagles mounted a rally, hanging a 3-spot in the top of the 6th after Carson Gossett was hit by a pitch to lead off. He stole 2nd and with 1 down, Zaiden Hammett cracked the goose egg with a single. With the bases loaded and two away, Byrnes pitcher Caine Rogers was called for a balk to plate a 2nd run for Chesnee. Coy Wall would later reach on a fielding error on the shortstop, plating a third run, which would make for the final margin of 4-3 as the game ended on the 2 hour 10 minute time limit mandated by the tournament rules. 

The nightcap was the championship game, which featured the Boiling Springs Bulldogs – a team who went 3-0 in round robin bracket play having outscored their opponents 30-0, and the Spartanburg Vikings, who had an almost equally impressive run through their first three games with a +22 run differential (27-5). Aside from the region 2-5A rivalry matchup between two teams that have shown to have a lot of speed, good pitching, and make good contact at the plate, the game also had both the bragging rights of being the county champion and the first ones to claim the title at Fifth Third Park. For Boiling Springs in particular, they were looking for their third consecutive tournament title while the Vikings were searching for their first since the return of the preseason classic back in 2021. 

Trouble struck early for BSHS starter Kellan Spencer when he gave up a leadoff single to Parker McCrory. After a bunt popped up back to the mound, Juan Aguilar also singled, setting up an RBI double from Charlie McCrory to give Spartanburg a 1-0 lead. Spencer settled in from there, retiring the next two on a strikeout and a ground out to 3rd. 

The Bulldogs looked to answer when Spartanburg starter Taylor Jakubchak issued a walk to the speedy BSHS 2nd baseman Kai Lee, who would later steal 2nd and take third on a ball in the dirt. However, he would be left on as Jakunchak struck both Titus Hutchins and JD Moore out looking and retired Cruz Hunnicutt on a fly out to left. 

Both sides would escape jams in the second frame – most notably of them being when Jakubchak got Lee to fly out to right field to leave the bases loaded, leaving the Bulldogs without another scoring chance until the 5th inning thanks to a storyline from this game that should be highlighted despite not directly affecting the outcome. 

Andrew Babbis came on to pitch for the Vikes in the third inning and was absolutely dealing. He worked three frames, 2 of which he retired the side in order and in the third, left Kai Lee on 2nd after a 2 out infield single to third and a stolen base. On the other side of the coin, Boiling Springs kept it a 1-run game thanks to the work of Preston Callahan and Trey Godfrey on the bump. 

Callahan struck out three in 2 scoreless innings with 2 walks while Godfrey – who was also a key player in nailing down the Bulldogs’ victory over Gaffney in the Steve Sanders Championship game a year ago, picked up some big momentum by working out of a bases loaded 2 out mess in the 5th, leaving a runner on third after 2 singles in the 6th, and stranding two more in the 7th. 

“Trey is always going to give us all he has”, said BSHS head coach Jeff Lipscomb. “His arm is gonna give hitters trouble and we have a ton of confidence in him to get outs. That is his bottom line. He gets outs. It may not be pretty, but he gets the job done.” 

Godfrey’s three scoreless frames earned him the win in relief. But, how he got into that position is the 2nd biggest storyline from this game. 

Boiling Springs would go on to take the lead in the bottom of the 6th inning on a rally that started with a single from Moore and a walk to Hunnicutt, which was enough to make Jesse Dyar decide to pull Babbis, replacing him with Chris Colin. Cathen Cole bunted both runners into scoring position and the Bulldogs proceeded to equalize the game at 1 on an RBI groundout to 2nd from Spencer. That play also advanced Hunnicutt to third and set the stage for the mental blunder that ultimately decided the contest. 

With Austin Baird at the dish, Spartanburg catcher Walker McCrory came up out of his crouch and took a step towards the mound without asking the umpire for time – which is by rule a balk. That error scored Hunnicutt to unconventionally give the Bulldogs the 2-1 lead they would not relinquish, claiming their third straight Steve Sanders Tournament title. 

“We started off hot”, said Lipscomb of his team’s run through the tournament. “We swung the bats. The pitching was excellent for us. But tonight was not great. We were so fortunate to win this game. We did not show up with our bats, and I told my guys sometimes you don’t have the bats. Sometimes things are just going bad. But you have to find a way to win. That is what they did tonight. I have to tip my hat to Spartanburg. Coach Dyar is doing a good job and they are a much better team this year. They are going to give everybody a hard time.” 

With the regular season starting a week from tonight, things will get serious right off the rip. Region 2-5A is loaded as always this season. Dorman is favored to be in both the region and upperstate championship mix with a veteran roster that has plenty of speed, pitching, and power. But, this tournament has shown that they won’t be without their challengers. Riverside, Byrnes, Boiling Springs, Spartanburg – all are very capable of making waves. 

Boiling Springs will open the region and regular season slate Tuesday night on the road for the first of a 2-game set against Riverside and follow it up with the Cavaliers the next week. 

“I like this team”, said Lipscomb. “Yes, it is early. But, we start region play next week. Every team – not just Dorman, but Riverside, Spartanburg, Eastside, every team in the region is good and that is why it is so tough. But, I like my bunch. They are gritty and tough. They’re mentally tough and hopefully that will pay big dividends as the season goes on.” 

On the other end, Spartanburg will also open their regular season slate with a region series, facing the Byrnes Rebels in a 2 game set starting on March 10th at Duncan Park. Both games in that series start at 6:30 PM. Boiling Springs’ opener at Riverside is set for Tuesday at 6:00 while game 2 will be at 6:30 in Bulldog Park.