Fayetteville Advances to State Title Baseball Game
History does repeat itself.
Two years after the Fayetteville baseball team knocked off Nazareth 4-0 in the state semifinals, the Lions did so again Wednesday – same score, same opponent, same round.
There are even several of the same players still on the Lions this time around.
“It’s weird how it’s all working out,” said Fayetteville head coach Clint Jaeger.
But there’s even more coincidences.
Wednesday’s win vaults the Lions (20-6) into Thursday’s 9 a.m. state title game against another team the Lions have some history against – the Abbott Panthers.
Abbott (22-4) beat Fayetteville in the 2017 state title baseball game, and the next year the Lions got revenge over the Panthers in the state semis before falling to Elkhart Slocum in the state title game.
This year’s version of Abbott advanced to the title game with a walk-off 5-4 win over Kennard Wednesday.
Earlier this season Abbott knocked Fayetteville out of the basketball playoffs in the regional finals by two points.
“We know they are good. They know we are good. Hopefully we have a good game,” said Fayetteville junior third baseman Keagan Supak who drove in two runs Wednesday. The last time Supak, a junior, was on the field at Dell Diamond, he was winning the state title game MVP in 2021 as a freshman.
“It’s a different feeling being back,” Supak said. “There’s not as much pressure. We’re having fun. We’re ready to get the job done.”
Wednesday, Fayetteville got a stellar pitching performance from sophomore hurler Chance Konvicka.
“It felt amazing that they had the confidence in me to do this,” Konvicka said.
He threw a complete game three-hitter, striking out nine and walking just one.
“To pitch a complete game in the state tournament is awesome,” Clint Jaeger said. “When he throws strikes, he’s nasty.”
Fayetteville gave Konvicka an early lead when in the top of the first Supak led off the game with a walk, stole second and then scored on a Easton Jaeger single.
The game would stay 1-0 as Nazareth starting pitcher Carson Heiman kept the Lions’ lineup off balance.
Fayetteville had pounded the ball in the postseason, and had at least 10 runs in every playoff game this season before Wednesday.
“We started off with a bang, up 1-0 within like eight pitches and then we started popping the ball up, getting underneath pitches and giving them easy outs,” Clint Jaeger said. But things changed in the fifth inning when Fayetteville tacked on three more runs and batted around. Konvicka, Jack Schley and Jake Kubala all singled to load the bases for Supak, who singled to drive in two.
“We took the pitches we needed to, hit the pitches we needed to hit,” Supak said.
Easton Jaeger followed with a double to plate Kubala.
Of Fayetteville’s nine hits Wednesday, Jaeger, Kubala and Konvicka all had two and Supak, Reid Gross and Schley each had one.
That 4-0 lead was more than enough for Konvicka, who thrived despite the brutally hot temperatures of the midday game at Dell Diamond.
“In between innings I was just trying to stay in the shade in the dugout, drink water, stay by a fan,” Konvicka said.
“Chance has been amazing lately, absolutely dominant,” Easton Jaeger said. “He stepped up in a big way, and we needed it.”
And it has gotten Fayetteville one win away from what would be the program’s fourth state baseball title.