By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
With 11 consecutive wins under their belt, after a shaky start to the season, the Fluco baseball team was awarded a fourth seed in the Region 3C post-season tournament. As a result, the Flucos got a first round bye. Due to inclement weather their first tournament game was played on June 2 with the winner scheduled to play the next night, presumably at number one seed Liberty Christian Academy (LCA) in Lynchburg.
The Flucos’ first round game was a classic. The Flucos, hosting Broadway High, won 1-0 in an extra inning. The Flucos survived the top of the eighth. The leadoff batter for Broadway High walked. A nice catch in deep center by senior Jayden Hoy produced the first out. A hit batter moved the first batter into scoring position, but a professional looking 6-4-3 double play ended the top of the eighth. It was senior junior shortstop Sam Loving to sophomore second baseman Brody Fields and on to first. Coach Joel Gray emphasizes fielding and the Flucos fielded in this inning extremely well.
A single run in the bottom of the eighth would end the game. Senior first baseman/pitcher Cam Via led off with a single to deep, deep shortstop. In high school a courtesy runner for the pitcher is always allowed. Gray sent in speedy senior Christian Lounsbury to run for Via. Then the bunting began. Senior outfielder Jackson Fields bunted down the first baseline. It looked like a routine successful sacrifice. The Broadway pitcher got to the ball in time for an out at first, but he bobbled it and Fields was safe. Hoy then bunted to successfully move the runners to second and third with one out. Junior outfielder Kyle Harris was next to the plate. He too bunted. It was a slow roller on the first baseline. The Broadway catcher judged, probably correctly, that it was not going into foul territory, So, he pounced on the ball and dove back toward the plate. Lounsbury just barely beat the tag and the game was over.
After the game, Gray, who is old school, advised that his team was quite successful this year with bunting. At the professional level, bunting is rare now due to “analytics” that discourage the tactic.
The Flucos started the game with senior Caden Harris on the mound. He had a very impressive start, striking out the first nine batters. The Flucos put runners on third base in the second and third but were unable to put a run across. Harris gave way to Via on the mound after five and two thirds innings, allowing only one hit and walking five.
The Flucos traveled to Lynchburg on June 3 and upset number one seed LCA by a 6-4 score. This win put the Flucos into the Region 3C final and qualified them for the State Class 3 tournament.
In the Region 3 final the Flucos traveled to Spotswood High School, the number 3 seed, The Flucos managed seven hits against a really strong pitcher for the Trailblazers and scored single runs in the second and sixth. Unfortunately, a single bad inning, including a devastating bad throw doomed the Flucos. With two outs in the fourth two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases for Spotswood. With the count on the batter at 3-2 all the runners were moving on the pitch. Via induced the batter to ground to third but after a slight bobble the throw to first was low and wild. All three runners scored. A single plated a fourth run in the inning and the final score was 4-2. Hoy was the top batter for the Flucos with 3-3, all singles. Via had a long RBI double in the sixth. Gray was pleased that freshman Jake McCall, up from the JV team for the play-offs, pitched two scoreless innings in relief.
Because the Flucos lost in the Region C final, they had to travel to the winner of the Region D final for a game played on June 10.
