Fort Chiswell baseball falls in state title contest

The Fort Chiswell Varsity Baseball Team was so fun and exciting to watch this year. These boys could either blow you away in the first few innings or they could hang around and make a furious comeback on you in the late innings. Either way the boys from the Fort put together a most memorable season with many milestones such as winning 20 games and losing only 6 but more importantly was making it to the 1A VHSL State Title Game for the first time in school history in the sport of Baseball.

On Friday morning at 10 AM, the Pioneers squared off against the Northumberland Indians at Kiwanis Field in Salam, VA for the first 1A Semi-Final game. FC started off the game getting a gift from the Indians in the bottom of the first inning as the Northumberland right fielder dropped a ball with two outs that allowed the Pioneers to plate a run and take a 1-0 advantage into the second inning. Pioneer starting senior pitcher Parker Moore, was almost perfect through two innings as he didn’t surrender a run until the top of the third on a two out walk to Chase Hymes that tied the contest at 1-1.

However, in the bottom of the third the rough and rowdy crew from the Fort would take a 3-1 lead thanks to singles by Zayne Sayers and Parker Moore. Sayers would end up leading the Fort with two runs batted in. Freshman Owen Jackson would set the tone for the Pioneers as he scored the final run of the game to make it 4-1 and he also went two for four on the day with four really hard hit balls. One of Jackson’s balls hit the top of the fence in left field and climbed up the protective netting but Jackson was only awarded the longest single in history for his efforts. Another long ball off Jackson’s bat was actually caught near the 400 foot sign in center. Jackson also came in for the save in the sixth and seventh innings throwing gas allowing no hits and shutting the door on the Indians season.

Speaking of gas, Parker Moore threw it all day as the senior challenged hitters allowing nine hits, striking out three and walking three over five innings of work in the 1A State Semi-Final victory. Marcus Crawley, JP Withers, and Lyndon Williams each collected two hits a piece for the Northuberland Indains in the loss.

Now, the Pioneers seemed to be poised for the State Championship as Owen Jackson stayed under the pitch count on Friday so he was able to throw on Saturday. However, you could definitely see a difference in his velocity as the Championship game started. Jackson just didn’t have the pop on his fastball that he had the day before and he struggled with control at times as the Pioneers fell into a early 5-0 hole and never recovered. The Pioneer starter would go 4 innings surrendering eight runs (one earned) on seven hits, walking three, and striking out three. FC also committed 4 errors in the contest which led to the final 10-0 loss.

One notable event in the championship game was when Mac Phillips stepped to the plate in the fifth inning with bases loaded and one out for the Pioneers and was thrown out of the contest for supposedly kicking dirt on the plate. Coach Derrick Jackson also got tossed by the home plate umpire as he came in for the defense of Phillips. The umpire also awarded Auburn the two outs even though Phillips had a 1 ball and 2 strike count on him at the time of the ejection. Auburn’s ace pitcher, Gibbons, was also approaching the pitch count rule which would have allowed the Pioneers to see another pitcher as the Eagles had already burned two of their pitchers the day before.

But we will never know as Phillips was retired for two outs and was followed by a Pioneer strikeout to end the fourth inning at 8-0. Auburn would plate two more in the 5th inning on three hit batters and a hit and a walk. The Fort was led by Zayne Sayers, Cam Alley and Cooper Davis at the plate in the Championship game as each notched a hit. Auburn got hits from Landon Marrs, Mitchell Hale, Zac McGlothlin, Mower, Matt Altizer, Brody Hensel, and Lavergne.

FC will lose four seniors, Parker Moore, Zayne Sayers, Brayden Billings,and Cam Alley that have all played big roles in last year’s State Quarter Final Run and this year’s 1A Championship. These big four will be greatly missed but FC should have kids moving up and stepping into big roles to make another run for the title in 2026.