In the next to the last game of the 16-18 year-old Babe Ruth season Friday night at the Jonathon D. Hollingsworth Memorial Babe Ruth Field in Lewisburg, the Gamecocks jumped out to a big lead over the Beavers before surviving a serious comeback bid to hold on for a 10-8 win.

Carson Cheek had another huge night for the Gamecocks, smashing the league’s first home run of the season and picking up the win on the mound.

JW Beasley and Logan Courtemanche both went 2-for-3 at the plate for the Gamecocks with Beasley driving in two and scoring two runs while Courtemanche drove in two, scored a run, stole two bases, and tossed one scoreless inning on the hill to earn a hold.

Luke Terry and Colton Barber had two hits apiece for the Beavers with Terry scoring two runs and Barber driving home one.

Bryson Whaley had one hit, drove in one, stole two bases, and scored a run while Naomi Hopper scored two runs after reaching base twice on walks and stole a base for the Beavers.

The Beavers scored an unearned run off Cheek in the top first inning before Beasley roped a two-out triple to deep center and scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the stanza to make it 1-1.

Cheek struck out three out of the four batters he faced in the top of the second inning and after a leadoff single by Courtemanche in the home half of the stanza, Cheek blasted a home run deep over the left field fence to make it 3-1.

Preston Shelton came to the hill in relief of Cheek in the top of the third inning and struck out three out of the four batters he faced.

Beavers’ starting pitcher Caleb McElhaney set down the Gamecocks 1-2-3 in the bottom of the third inning, including back-to-back inning ending strikeouts.

The Beavers got one run back in the top of the fourth inning on a Barber RBI single before the Gamecocks broke the game wide open in the home half of the frame as they sent 12 batters to the plate and scored seven runs on just two hits.

Peyton Graves walked with the bases loaded and Shelton made it 5-2 when he was hit by a pitch with the bases juiced before Beasley delivered a two-run single to put the Gamecocks up 7-2.

Logan “Freight Train” McKnight fired up the crowd with a steal of home to make it an 8-2 contest and a two-run single by Courtemanche gave the Gamecocks a seemingly comfortable 10-2 lead.

There was no quit in the Beavers as the came up with four runs on just two hits in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut the lead to 10-6.

Walker Whaley set down the Gamecocks 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth inning to give the Beavers a chance and Conner Lewis led off the bottom of the inning with a base on balls, but was gunned down trying to steal second base.

Austin Grubbs came to the hill and promptly hit Hopper with a pitch and Terry followed with a base hit to right field.

A wild pitch moved both runners up to second and third before Hopper scored on a Bryson Whaley fielder’s choice RBI and Spence Oliver followed with a run-scoring single to make it 10-8, sending the tying run to the plate with two outs.

Grubbs induced a ground ball to Shelton at short, who fired to first for the game ending out, giving Grubbs the save and the Gamecocks the ‘W’.

The two teams will meet for the final time on Friday with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.

Beavers 100 142-8 7 0

Gamecocks 120 70X-10 7 2

Beavers: Luke Terry 2-for-4, Colton Barber 2-for-3, Bryson Whaley 1-for-3, Spence Oliver 1-for-3, Caleb McElhaney 1-for-3.

BB: Naomi Hopper 2, Bryson Whaley, McElhaney, Thomas J. Beardsley,

RS: Terry, 2, McElhaney 2, Hopper 2, Bryson Whaley, Spence Oliver.

RBI: Bryson Whaley, Oliver, Barber.

SAC: Walker Whaley.

ROE: Oliver

HBP: Walker Whaley, Oliver, Conner Lewis.

GIDP: McElhaney.

SB: Bryson Whaley 2, Hopper, Terry, Barber.

CS: Lewis.

Team LOB: 5

LP: Caleb McElhaney (3.2IP, 5H, 8R, 8ER, 6K, 3BB).

Relief: Walker Whaley (1.1IP, 2H, 2E, 2ER, 4K, 2BB).

Gamecocks: JW Beasley 2-for-3, Logan Courtemanche 2-for-3, Carson Cheek 1-for-2, Peyton Graves 1-for-2, Trey Williamson 1-for-2.

BB: Cheek 2, Graves, Logan McKnight, Ashton Grubbs.

RS: Beasley 2, Cheek 2, Graves, Preston Shelton, McKnight, Courtemanche, Williamson, Ashton Grubbs.

3B: Beasley.

HR: Cheek.

RBI: Beasley 2, Cheek 2, Courtemanche 2, Graves, Shelton.

FC: Williamson.

HBP: Shelton

SB: Courtemanche 2, Cheek, McKnight.

Team LOB: 4

Fielding

E: Austin Grubbs, McKnight.

DP: Courtemanche, McKnight, Shelton.

WP: Carson Cheek (2IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 4K, 0BB).

Save: Austin Grubbs (.2IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 0K, 1BB).

Relief: Preston Shelton (2IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 4K, 3BB).

Relief: Logan McKnight (.1IP, 2H, 4R, 2ER, 0K, 1BB).

Hold: Logan Courtemanche (1IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1K, 0BB).