Four-peat also TSSAA record 14th FHS baseball state crown
Hitting matches pitching in final 2 games; Draper finds his edge in middle, late innings for 3rd state title game win
And led by a rookie Admirals skipper, Garrett Copeland, some folks assumed this Farragut team would fall well short of a long playoff run.
But after successfully fighting off its sixth season -elimination game, this time in the Division I-4A state title game versus Clarksville at Oakland High School Saturday, May 24, this unlikely state title four-peat was a reality with a come-from-behind 11-3 win.
Copeland’s first state crown is the program’s 14th, a TSSAA state record.
“I think it’s a team that shows up and is ready to compete every single day,” the coach said. “I think it’s a team that doesn’t really seem to feel any pressure with their backs against the wall. They’re still able to play with freedom. They’re still able to play well.”
After pitching carried the Admirals (32-11) early in its state tourney run, a 3-2 win versus Independence followed by a 1-0 victory against Siegel on its home field, Copeland’s boys got the bats going in a rematch against Indy, winning 9-5 Friday, May 23, to advance to the championship showdown.
Farragut staff ace Cole Draper, looking for his third straight state championship pitching victory as a starter, had a rough first two innings against the Wildcats (37-8), giving up two runs before working out of a pair of bases-loaded jams.
But the crusty veteran hurler settled down, aided by an offense that twice tied the game before exploding in the late innings — highlighted by sophomore Braxton Tye’s sixth-inning grand slam after his double highlighted a three-run fifth — to ignite the pure joy of yet another Admirals dogpile on a pitchers mound in Rutherford County.
“He’s our guy, and everybody on the team knows he’s our guy,” Copeland said of Draper. “He did struggle, but with the success he’s had, with the résumé he’s had, he has a little bit of an extended leash. As long as we’re keeping the game tight offensively, he’s going to stay in there. I never really felt like it was a dire situation to get him out, or I never really felt like it was a make or break situation.
“Once I knew we were back in there (offensivley), I knew we were going to fight throughout that whole game,” said Draper, who went the entire seven innings (106 pitches) with just two days of rest after pitching five innings (70 pitches) in the opening 3-2 win. He allowed three earned runs, eight hits and one walk while hitting one batter. He struck out five.
“I knew they had my backs, and I can go up there just with a bunch of freedom and pitch to contact. ...My body felt good. I knew I wasn’t going to stop.”
Elsewhere offensively in the title game, Owen Stelzer had a huge day: a run-scoring double plus a pair of RBI singles.
Aidan Flagg smacked a fourth-inning home run tying the game 3-3.
Jackson Zeller earned an RBI with a bases-loaded walk. Zain Kureshi-Smith added double, scoring a run, plus a sacrifice fly.
Jake Harris doubled and courtesy runner Eli Tittle scored.
Neyland Williams doubled and scored on Tye’s grand slam.
Braden Humphrey, whose defense was huge at third base in the 3-2 opening win, added a single versus Clarksville.
In shutting down Siegel, Ads starter Reid Thomason allowed no runs, three hits and two walks in 4.1 innings. Reliever Joey Ray allowed no hits and no walks with two strikeouts in 2.2 innings.
In beating Independence, 3-2, Draper went five innings (two earned runs, six hits and no walks allowed with seven strikeout.
Reliever Ben Miller closed things out, allowing no runs and no walks with two stirkeouts.
