Lions Are Kings of the Diamond

Young Fayetteville Team Arrives Ahead of Schedule

Fayetteville head coach Clint Jaeger was hesitant to use the ‘D’ word after Thursday’s state title win when asked if the state championship could be the start of a dynasty.

“Not yet, we have a long way to go,” Jaeger said.

That’s of course the right thing to say.

But what happened over the course of two days last week at Dell Diamond should send shivers down the spine of any 1A baseball team entertaining hopes of competing for a state title in the next three years.

When Fayetteville fans look back in a few years, that D-word, dynasty, could well have started Thursday in Round Rock.

Fayetteville won the state title with only two senior starters, no junior starters, three sophomore starters and four freshmen starters.

Freshman Reid Gross pitched a complete game shutout in the state semifinal game.

Freshman Keagan Supak pitched into the seventh inning in the state title game, before being bailed out of a late jam by sophomore Travis Gully. The third baseman and left fielder are also freshmen.

The shortstop, catcher and first baseman all sophomores.

Many of these Lions can’t even legally drive a car yet, but they already have a state gold medals to hang off the rearview mirrors when they do.

Sure Fayetteville will miss the leadership of outgoing seniors, like starters Aiden Wicke and Landon Urban, who both had stellar state tournaments, but the rest of the core of this state championship team will return intact. And apparently, there are some really good middle schoolers on the way for Fayetteville too. The Lions should be statetitle contenders for years to come – even if they hoisted the trophy before most people thought they might.

“I’ve dreamed about this my whole entire life,” said Fayetteville sophomore catcher Logan Fritsch. “I never would have imagined it would happen my sophomore season.”