The Lions March to the Title: A Look Back
A couple of months ago, only the most faithful Fayetteville fans thought a state baseball title was possible this season.
The Lions started the season losing three of their first five games, and then after a fourgame losing streak in early April the Lions were only 8-8.
But from that point on, Fayetteville won 11 of their next 12 games, the only blemish being a lose in Game 2 of their best-of-three regional final series against D’Hanis.
Here’s a look at the Lions playoff run taken from the pages of The Fayette County Record.
May 7: Playoff Opener Fayetteville 16, High Island 0
The Fayetteville baseball team had no trouble with High Island in their opening round playoff game Friday, May 7. The Lions blasted the Cardinals 16-0 in Fayetteville to advance to this week’s area round against Bartlett.
Against High Island, Keagan Supak pitched three scoreless innings, followed by two scoreless innings of relief from Jake Kubala.
Supak hit a homer, scored three runs and had two hits.
Parker Vitek had three hits, including a triple and scored three runs.
Logan Fritsch and Kubala each had two hits. Fritsch hit a double.
Reid Gross scored three runs.
May 13-14: Area Round Fayetteville Sweeps Bartlett
The Lions edged Bartlett 8-7 Thursday, May 13, before rolling to a 15-1 win Friday.
Thursday the Lions were led by Parker Vitek, who hit a pair of doubles. Landon Urban, Aiden Wicke, Jake Kubala and Cooper Mau also had hits for Fayetteville. The Lions also drew eight walks.
Reid Gross pitched into the seventh inning. Keagan Supak came on in relief and got the game’s final out.
Friday the Lions really poured it on offensively. Vitek had two more hits, Logan Fritsch hit a double and Travis Gully hit a triple. The Lions also drew 10 walks. Gully drove in three runs and Supak scored three times.
Supak pitched four innings of one-run ball and Travis Gully pitched an inning.
May 20: Regional Semis Fayetteville Edges RT-C
Fittingly, this battle between in-county neighbors was really close.
In an edge-of-your-seat-all-night type of game, a huge crowd showed up Thursday to watch Fayetteville edge Round Top-Carmine 3-2 in a thrilling one-game regional semifinal at Mumford. Twice in the regular season the Lions had lost to the Cubs, but this time Fayetteville prevailed and now as one of the last eight teams alive in Class 1A, advancing to the state quarterfinals/regional finals against D’Hanis.
“This feels amazing. We’ve been working hard all year for this,” said Lions catcher Logan Fritsch, who drove in all three of the Lions’ runs Thursday.
“I was lost for words after the game,” said Fayetteville head coach Clint Jaeger. “I told the guys I was proud of them and that we just beat a really, really good, experienced team.”
Fayetteville freshman Keagan Supak pitched six innings Thursday before fellow freshman Reid Gross pitched a scoreless seventh. Supak allowed just six hits and two runs, striking out nine.
“They threw strikes, that’s all that matters,” Fritsch said. “Keagan’s curveball and slider were amazing, and then Reid came in and threw really well. They both did amazing.”
Continuing that youthful storyline, was the fact that all three runs Thursday were driven in by a sophomore, Fayetteville’s catcher Fritsch.
June 3-4: Regional Finals Fayetteville Survives vs. D’Hanis
The Fayetteville High Schoo baseball team has earned a bid to Dell Diamond in Round Rock to compete in the 1A UIL state championship after beating D’Hanis High School Friday night, June 4, in a best-of-three series.
The Lions took the first game on Thursday by winning 4-1 after a two-hour rain delay and finishing the contest around midnight.
“We’re kind of used to having delays and obstacles to have to deal with,” said Fayetteville head baseball coach Clint Jaeger. A couple weeks prior, the team was forced to postpone one of their playoff series due to a positive COVID case among the players. “If they’re not ready to handle adversity by now, I don’t know what’s going to get them ready for it. It wasn’t that big of a deal having to wait (out the weather). They were ready to play. We had some team bonding during the time off. We went to get a meal and sit down. We bonded and we were ready to play whenever the rain stopped.”
D’Hanis evened the series in the next game on Friday by mercy rule with a 12-2 win that was called in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Fayetteville then bounced back and defeated the Cowboys in game three with a final score of 7-6 that went eight total innings.
“They never say die,” Jaeger said. “As long as we got something left, we’re not dead. We talked about that before the last inning when we were down three. I said ‘Hey, nobody make the first out. Everybody get on base and we’re going to make some magic happen’.”
Freshman Keagan Supak hit a ball in the gap to shallow right field in the top of the eighth inning with runners on first and third and two outs to give the Lions a 7-6 lead that would eventually be the winning run.
Stellar pitching from sophomore Travis Gully also gave the team some nice breathing room in the first few innings. Senior Landon Urban knocked their second run bringing in sophomore Parker Vitek on a shot to left field in the top of the fourth inning. Supak kept the hitting party going with another liner to left field that sent home freshman Jake Kubala.
June 9: State Semifinals 4-0 Win over Nazareth
The Fayetteville High School baseball team was one win away from the school’s third state baseball title on June 9.
The Lions beat Nazareth 4-0 Wednesday afternoon in a state semifinal match at Dell Diamond.
Freshman Reid Gross took the mound for the Lions Wednesday and pitched a complete game three-hit shutout along with launching a triple to drive in a run in the top of the third inning.
“Today, I think my pitching was definitely better than the hitting,” said Gross. “The triple was definitely a good one ... I’m happy what we did today.”
“That’s amazing, to throw a complete game in the state tournament against the No. 1-ranked team, and to shut them out,” Fayetteville head coach Clint Jaeger said of Gross’ performance. “He was throwing strikes and only threw 78 pitches. He was like Greg Maddux.”
The Lions (18-9) got all the offense they would need in the very first inning.
Fayetteville scored in the top of the first inning when sophomore Logan Fritsch hit a triple of his own to drive in Gross from first base who had walked.
“If you are visitors and can get on the board first it puts a lot of pressure on the other team,” Jaeger said. “Getting that run in the first inning, it eased it up some for us.”
Fayetteville really blew things open in the third inning.
Gross’ three bagger put the Lions up 2-0 by sending freshman Keagan Supak home. He had reached on a single to left field. Then Fritsch hit his second triple of the day to center field, which made Gross touch home yet again for a 3-0 lead.
Freshman Jake Kubala connected on a base hit to left field in the same inning to score Fritsch for Fayetteville’s fourth and final run.
“Getting those three runs in the third was big because then we weren’t on pins and needles every time they got a runner on,” Jaeger said.
June 10: Title Game Lions beat Kennard 6-4
The Fayetteville High School baseball team took on Kennard High School in the 1A state championship final Thursday morning, June 10, and were victorious by a final score of 6-4, winning their first state championship title since 2012.
“To me, if you got good pitchers, keep the ball in play, and got guys that can field it, you can compete with anybody,” said Fayetteville head baseball coach Clint Jaeger, whose team had lost the state title game in 2017 and 2018. “We find ways to scratch out runs. Our guys did that today and came up with some key hits. It feels really good.”
Freshman Keagan Supak tossed six stellar innings before allowing a lead-off single in the seventh.
Sophomore Travis Gully came in to seal the deal.
Gully allowed a pair of hits as Kennard trimmed the Fayetteville lead to two runs and had the tying run at the plate with no outs.
But Gully got a sacrifice fly and then struck out the final two bats of the game.
“I was just trying to blow it by them with fastballs,” said Gully. He also reached base four times as a hitter. “I just came out here like any other game. Just trying my best to get on base and do what’s best for the team.”
Fayetteville (19-9) made noise quickly in the top of the first inning with a triple from sophomore catcher Logan Fritsch that drove in Gully and freshman Reid Gross who had both walked. Freshman Jake Kubala added another run in the same inning with a base knock RBI on a grounder in between the first and second basemen to score sophomore Karson Corn, who pinch ran for Fritsch.
Kennard responded in the bottom half of the inning scoring a run on two singles, one to centerfield and one to right field, along with a couple stolen bases. The Lions tacked on another run in the next inning when senior Landon Urban scored on a double steal. Urban had previously stole second base on a throw in the dirt after connecting on a hit toward second base. Urban then advanced to third on a groundout before striding home on the double steal attempt. A base hit from Gully to left field in the top of the fourth inning made it a 5-1 ball game and Kennard didn’t score their second run until the bottom of the sixth on a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded. A shot down the left field line followed by another base hit forced Jaeger to make a visit to the mound.
Supak was able to strikeout the last batter of the inning to keep a three run lead. Fayetteville added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning when Kubala stole home on a wild pitch to the backstop. Kubala had reached on a walk and eventually made his way to third base thanks to an infield hit to the shortstop by Urban to load the bases.
Kennard didn’t throw in the towel as they tallied two more runs on a single, double, infield hit, and sacrifice fly, but it wasn’t enough as Travis Gully closed out the game for the Lions by striking out the last man up to complete the 6-4 victory.