Fort Chiswell heading to state playoffs … again

The Fort Chiswell Varsity Baseball Team punched their ticket to the VHSL State Playoffs for the third year in a row in Baseball by defeating the Grayson County Blue Devils on Monday by the score of 3-1. Not a lot of hits were handed out in the contest as Fort Chiswell flame throwing sophomore, Owen Jackson recorded 18 outs on the mound with nine coming by strikeout. Jackson allowed only two hits with one being a swinging bunt in his six innings of dominance.

Senior Isaac Haislip also came in to throw an inning of shutout baseball striking out two. Haislip also put up a stellar day at the plate going 2 for 3 with an RBI. Brody Musser led Fort Chiswell with three walks and an RBI while Cooper Reynolds notched the other RBI for the Fort in a game where Grayson County pitchers Austin Bryant and Mav Goad did a good job of keeping the Pioneer offense off balance. Grayson’s Troy Stockner went 2 for 3 in his last game to lead the Blue Devils.

With the win the Pioneers improve to 17 wins and 4 losses on the year and will face the Auburn Eagles in the Region C Championship for the third year in a row at Christiansburg High School on Wednesday. FC will look for some better luck this time as they have come up short in all three past attempts as they did in the VHSL State Championship last season. The Pioneers did split with the Eagles this year during the regular season with a 4-0 win and a 8-5 loss. Scoring runs will be the key as the Fort has struggled with the bats as of late. Hopefully, someone will strike the match and start the fire for another run at a title.