State bound! Fort Mill baseball beats Blythewood to move on to 5A championship series

The final strike elicited many reactions.

Some hopped the dugout fence and rushed the field. Some flung their gloves toward the setting sun. Some doused their teammates with water.

For Yellow Jackets coach Travis Collier, though, emotions ran a little higher. Collier, a right fielder on the last Fort Mill state title team in 2002, got to raise a trophy. Now, he has guided his impressive squad one step closer to doing the same thing.

The Jackets overcame a dominant early performance from Blythewood senior left-hander Davis Wright and reversed an early 1-0 Bengal lead, then made it stand for a 2-1 victory in the Upper State championship at Fort Mill High School on Wednesday night.

“I can’t put into words what I feel right now. I probably won’t sleep for the next two days,” Collier said. “This is special for me. I won a championship here in 2002 as a player, and one of my goals has always been to win one as a coach here.

“It’s not about me, though. It’s about them. It’s about all those kids and those assistant coaches and our administrators and our athletic director and everybody who supports us. It’s all about them.”

Blythewood (30-3) struck first in its first at-bat. Xavier Cuevas ran for Alex Nevils after Nevils was hit by a pitch to lead off the game. Cuevas then advanced to second on a Caleb McCants single, followed by a steal of third. Zac Cowan then rapped into a fielder’s choice, plating Cuevas and putting Blythewood ahead, 1-0. Jackets starter Mathieu Curtis held the Bengals at bay from there, working around the jam by inducing a fielder’s choice and strikeout to end the inning.

“We knew we had to get out of the first inning,” Collier said. “If we could get out of the first inning with a little damage, we knew we could compete. We competed.”

The Jackets went down in order in the first, then stranded single runners in the second and third while trying to break through against Wright. Curtis, meanwhile, held off the Bengal offense by stranding runners in the second and third before a scoreless fourth that kept the visitors’ lead steady at 1-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth.

Wright continued to deal as the frame started, compelling a fly-out to center and recording a looking strikeout while working through the powerful middle of the Jackets’ order. Fort Mill (24-7), loaded with senior leadership, then finally broke through behind the bats of two underclassmen.

Junior third baseman Eli Craddock worked a walk, setting the table for freshman center fielder Carter Blankinship. Blankinship came through in a big way, slicing a triple into the right-field corner that both served as his club’s first hit and plated Craddock. The throw to try to nab Blankinship at third skipped away, allowing the Jackets to plate their second — and eventual winning — run.

“Our future is very bright here. We’re losing a few key pieces, but I can promise you this — there are some guys behind them who are ready to go. They’re ready,” Collier said.

A huge part of that readiness centered around the Jackets’ approach to Wright. The lefty was dazzling for much of the game, fanning seven Yellow Jacket hitters and inducing mostly harmless contact.

“We tried to change our approach — to get up on the plate and take away the change-up,” Collier said. “We had to make a change. We tried to hit the ball the other way. We had a couple of guys willing to do that, and it paid off.”

The focus then shifted to Curtis, who battled Wright pitch-for-pitch all day. The senior USC Upstate commit worked around a leadoff walk in the fifth, then fanned the final two batters in each of the last two innings to help guide the Yellow Jackets into the state championship series. Curtis tossed a complete-game three-hitter, fanning eight.

After the teams shook hands, posed for photos and soaked in everything going on around them, Collier himself got soaked. The team drenched him with what had to have been a welcome water bath to top off the muggy evening.

“That was awesome. This is an awesome experience,” Collier said while looking toward the sizable crowd. “Look at these fans. I’ll be honest with you, we haven’t had this many fans here in a long time. This is great.”

Those fans will have another chance to turn out Saturday, as the Jackets host Berkeley to kick off the 5A state championship series. Game time will be announced later in the week.

W: Curtis. L: Wright. Hitters: BHS – McCants 1-3; Cowan 1-3; Penfield 1-3. FMHS – Blankinship 1-2; Schaefer 1-3.

Which teams are still in the state championship chase?

Also in action on Wednesday night: The Lewisville and Andrew Jackson baseball teams had Upper State final games. Here’s what happened.

In 2A, the Andrew Jackson Volunteers played at home and toppled the Phillip Simmons Iron Horses 8-7 in nine innings to earn the Lower State crown for the second year in a row.

The Vols took a 2-0 lead after one inning. After the Iron Horses cut the deficit to 2-1 in the top of the second, Andrew Jackson tacked on two more in the bottom half of the frame for a 4-1 advantage.

Phillip Simmons rallied for three in the fifth to tie the contest at 4-4. They added another in the sixth for a 5-4 cushion. The Vols countered with three in the bottom of the sixth to regain the lead at 7-5.

The Iron Horses rallied for two in the top of the seventh to tie it at 7-7. Andrew Jackson failed to score in the bottom of seventh, and the game went to extra innings

Neither team scored in the eighth frame, but the Vols won the game with a run in the bottom of the ninth.

The win improved Andrew Jackson to 31-1 on the year. They will host Gray Collegiate on Saturday in the first game in the best-of-three state championship series.

In 1A, the Lewisville Lions dropped a 10-0 decision to the Southside Christian Sabres in Greenville in the title round.

The Lions needed to win twice in order to earn the Upper State crown, but fell short with the loss in the first contest.

The Sabres pounded out thirteen hits in securing the victory. They rallied for five runs in the bottom of the opening frame and added three more in the home half of the third. They closed out the scoring with two more in the sixth inning.

The Lions managed only five hits in the game.

The Lions completed the season with an overall mark of 14-15.

Rock Hill-area baseball scores

UPPER STATE TOURNAMENT SCORES

5A

First Round (Thursday)

Fort Mill 7, Boiling Springs 0

Second Round (Saturday)

Fort Mill 4, TL Hanna 3 (8)

Championship Round (Wednesday)

Fort Mill 2, Blythewood 1

2A

First Round (Thursday)

Andrew Jackson 2, Woodland 0

Second Round (Saturday)

Andrew Jackson 6, Phillip Simmons 3

Championship Round (Wednesday)

Andrew Jackson 8, Phillip Simmons 7 (9)

1A

First Round (Thursday)

Lewisville 11, Whitmire 1

Second Round (Saturday)

Southside Christian 5, Lewisville 1

Elimination Round (Monday)

Lewisville 10, Whitmire 7

Championship Round (Wednesday)

Southside Christian 10, Lewisville 0

This story was originally published May 18, 2022 at 10:06 PM.