West Florence baseball repeats as district champion, returns to Lower State finals

FLORENCE, S.C. - Time and time again, West Florence has proven it can deliver in the clutch.

It's a blast. Just ask senior Chase Anderson, whose 3-run homer broke a 2-2 score and set the stage for the Knights' 9-2 Friday win over Berkeley. That did more than finish a series sweep in this best-of-3 district finals against the 2025 state champion.

This clinched a second straight West appearance in the SCHSL's 5A, D2 Lower State finals - this time against Chapin.

"I'm exhausted right now," said West coach Josh Brown, who even did a celebratory head-first slide in the outfield to celebrate. "This is so much fun; this team is so much fun. This means we're playing some more baseball next week, and I could not be more proud of this team."

The Knights (21-6) rallied from a 2-0 deficit on Friday to tie it. And then in the bottom of the fifth, with winning pitcher Avery Weaver and Josh Haney on base, Anderson pounced on a 1-1 pitch and drove it over the left-field fence.

That didn't surprise Brown one bit.

"If people would have seen him taking (batting practice) here today; that's exactly what he was doing," Brown said. "He was hitting the ball so far out of here. I knew he was going to get him one tonight."

Anderson was looking for his pitch, and he found it.

"(The pitcher) didn't really leave anything up in the zone. So, I was hunting my pitch down in the zone," said Anderson, who also doubled. "And he left one in, and I punished him for it."

It was certainly Friday's turning point.

"We got down early, but there's no quit in us," Brown said. "We didn't flinch. We had good at-bats in the second and third innings, and then we tied it up. And it just carried on from there."

West added four more runs in the sixth. Newt Hinson hit a two-run double; Haney hit a run-scoring single, and Owen Bex drew a bases-loaded walk for the 9-2 lead.

It was Berkeley, however, with the strong start on Levi Stanley's bloop RBI single to right and Braylon Donelson's sacrifice bunt for a 2-0 Stags lead in the top of the second.

There had already been concerns raised by Berkeley about the sturdiness of Knight Field's second base. Anderson led off the bottom of the second for West with his double, and he advanced to third on Bex's sac bunt before scoring on Fisher Hartman's single.

Then, with a runner on first and one out, James Arthur hit a grounder to Stanley, who is Berkeley's shortstop. In an attempt to convert an inning-ending double play, he stepped on second before throwing to first.

But right after he stepped on second, Stanley lost his balance and threw off target toward first to allow Arthur to safely reach and reach second. More importantly, that let Hartman score to tie the game at 2.

After Hinson was intentionally walked, the Stags walked off the field to protest the sturdiness of second base. An argument then ensued between the two teams' staffs, and the situation was soon de-escalated.

A short time later, play resumed. The inning ended on a forceout at second - which caused that base to pop back out again before it was put back in place.

Play was then back to normal, and Weaver stayed the course of his complete-game performance after allowing two runs in the top of the second. He finished with nine strikeouts and just one walk.

"It means everything," said Weaver, donning a necklace with antlers after the win. "I do everything for Knight Nation. I couldn't ask for a better time to be at my best. I'm so glad it happened today."

Now, after the celebratory dog pile, the Knights focus on their ultimate goal: Winning the program's first state championship since 1995.

But first, there is the Lower State championship series against Chapin.

"We've been working; we've put in the work," Anderson said. "Before last year, it had been 20 years since we had been to Lower State. Now, we're ready for the second year in a row. I think that says something."

That also says something to Brown, whose team staged a thrilling, late comeback Monday to beat Berkeley 14-13 in the district opener.

"We've got some good players," he said.

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This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 12:23 PM.