Fayetteville Wins Regional Baseball Title, Headed to State Semifinals

The Fayetteville Lions won the Region IV-1A title with authority Thursday.

And it’s earned the defending state champ Lions a berth in the state semifinals for the fourth consecutive season.

The Lions swept Medina 5-0 and 17-8 in a doubleheader in Somerset, showcasing two very different ways to win big ballgames.

That 5-0 Game 1 victory included a combined no-hitter by pitchers Jack Schley and Kandon Kaspar. Then the Lions won Game 2 by a 17-8 margin, as Fayetteville bashed a dozen hits.

“Throwing a no-hitter and a shut out obviously helped in Game 1,” Fayetteville head coach Clint Jaeger said. “I would have actually liked to have seen us capitalize offensively on some more opportunities early in that first game, but we played well and got enough timely hits.”

Kole Schmitt hit a double and a triple for the Lions in Thursday’s opener.

Kaspar also had two hits, and then closed out the game by throwing a hitless seventh inning.

Schley, the Lions’ senior flame thrower, was extremely dominant in that opener, throwing six innings of no-hit ball and striking out 14.

“Jack’s had a lot of success for us the last few years, but he’s taken it to another level this season,” Jaeger said.

In the second game against Medina the Lions really found that offensive punch, even though it was against Medina’s ace pitcher.

Schmitt and Jason Halfmann each had three hits for Fayetteville in Game 2.

Mason Fenhaus and Schley each had two hits. Schmitt drove in four runs and Halfmann and Schley each had three RBIs.

Dylan Henneke and Schmitt handled the pitching duties for the Lions in that second game.

Now the Lions (12-5) turn their attention to Centerville, which is the Region III-1A champ. They are coming off a 6-1 victory over Union Hill in their regional final one-game series last week. Centerville’s ace Kolt Larsen, allowed one run and struck out 12 in 5.1 innings of work.

Centerville is 22-1 this season.

Fayetteville and Centerville will play a one game state semifinal this Saturday, May 30 at 7 p.m. at Lake Creek High School in Montgomery.

“Centerville’s a solid all-around team. No weaknesses,” Jaeger said. “We’re expecting a pitcher’s duel.”

The winner of Saturday’s game advances to the 1A state title game Saturday June 6 at 9 a.m. at Dell Diamond.