Mitchell, Bishops turn back Cheraw

The winning formula in baseball has remained for the last 100 years -- good pitching, timely hitting and solid defense.

Bishop England got all three Saturday against Cheraw.

Patrick Mikell had three hits and drove in three runs and Luke Navarro threw five strong innings to lead Bishop England past Cheraw, 6-3, in the Class AA Lower State semifinals at Bishop England High School.

The Bishops (21-7) will take on the winner of the Hanahan-Dillon game Monday night on the road in the round-robin tournament format.

"This was probably our most complete performance of the playoffs," said Bishop England coach Bill Collier said. "We've been hitting the ball pretty well the last month and we got excellent starting pitching from Luke. We had that one error, but other than that, it was a solid effort for us."

Navarro, who is a perfect 4-0 on the season, had a two-hit shutout going into the sixth inning, retiring 10 of 12 hitters at one point the game.

"Luke did a great job of setting the tone for us," Collier said. "He got us a little further into the game than I thought he would be able to. He's not going to overpower guys with his fastball, but he has really good offspeed stuff. He was throwing all three of his pitches for strikes."

The Bishops pounded out 13 hits and started the game with back-to-back-to back singles in the first inning.

"We've really started to swing the bats well in the playoffs," Collier said. "We had some quality at bats early in the game."

The Bishops had been a slow starting bunch in the postseason, but got two runs in the first inning on a sacrifice fly and an error.

"You can't afford to fall behind when you get to this point of the playoffs," Collier said. "All the teams are good. It was nice to get an early lead."

The Bishops were up 6-0 after five inning with Mikell leading the way with a run-scoring single, a solo home run and a one-run double.

"Patrick was hurt earlier in the season, so he's just now getting back into a grove," Collier said. "He's a senior and has had to wait his turn. But he's made the most of his opportunity here lately."

The Braves scored three runs in the fifth inning highlighted by Aaron Miller's two-run home run to make things interesting, but got no closer.

WP: Luke Navarro (4-0). LP: Ben Tillman