Fans from both schools got their money’s worth and more as the Eagles, down 11-3 in the fourth inning, erased that deficit to fight back and claim the win.
Jacksonville will now move on to the second round of playoffs against area foe and long time rival Alexandria. The best-of-three series will begin Friday at 4 p.m. at Henry Farm Park. Game two will follow immediately and game three, if necessary, will be played Saturday at noon.
The Eagles (23-5), ranked No. 4 in the final regular season poll, beat Fayette County 11-3 in the first game, but fell to the Tigers 9-4 in the nightcap setting up game three on Saturday.
In the elimination game the Tigers went on top in the first inning on four singles, leaving the bases loaded after taking a 2-0 lead.
Jacksonville came right back in the bottom half of the inning scoring one run of their own. Jake Williams, lead off batter for the Eagles started things off with a single to right. Samuel Sawyer put the Eagles on the board with another single to right.
It took the Eagles only two pitches in the second inning to tie up the game at 2-2. Freshman designated hitter Michael Frankum hit a high, deep shot to right field that sailed over the fence.
Colby Bryant drew a walk and scored on a sacrifice fly by Williams as the Eagles took their first lead of the game, 3-2.
The Eagles had all sorts of trouble in the fourth inning resulting in a seven run inning for Fayette County.
The Eagles started chipping away bit by bit. A single by Williams and two walks loaded the bases. Trevor O’Day was hit by the pitch scoring a run and a walk by Samuel Sawyer scored another.
With two outs Quinn hit another double scoring two more runs and the Eagles were right back into the game in the bottom of the fourth with the score 11-7.
The Eagles held in the top of the fifth and cut even more into the Tiger lead in the bottom half of their inning when they put two more runs on the board. Frankum started out the inning with a single to right, but was out at second on a fielder’s choice on a ball hit by Bryant. A double by Williams scored Bryant and a single by O’Day scored Williams and the inning ended 11-9 for the Tigers.
Down 12-9 the Eagles went to work. Sawyer belted a single up the middle followed by a shot to left by Zach Shadoan. With runners on the corners Frankum stepped up to the plate and once again produced, hitting a double to left field scoring one.
Frankum, who went 3-3 with a homerun, double and single, didn’t worry about producing for the Golden Eagles despite only being a freshman.
“Being a freshman there’s generally not a lot of expectations of you and I try not to think about pressure, my dad’s taught me that for years,” said Frankum. “Being young, I’m just glad to be here really and when I got those hits and helped out my team that’s all I was really trying to do.”
Down 12-10 with two outs, Eagles Coach David Deerman substituted “Big Jake” Smith for Shed Long and the senior hit a single up the middle scoring two to tie the score.
“Big Jake” had hit a monster homerun the day before clearing the left field fence and almost hitting the road. Of his game tying hit Smith said, “I had a 2-0 count, a real hitters count and they had to come out with a fastball so I just hit it. The first time they started out with a fastball and I hit it for a homerun. Being a pitcher, you kind of know how another pitcher thinks. It really helps in the batters box.”
A triple by Jake Williams, who also had two singles and a double, scored another run and the Eagles finally had a lead, 13-12.
In the top of the seventh with two outs and two strikes on the Tiger batter, Tucker Trice, the freshman put the ball over the fence in deep center field to tie the game.
The Tigers reinserted their original pitcher, Trey Burkhalter into the game for the final inning. Burkhalter had noting left and walked the first two batters. With a new pitcher in the game, Quinn introduced himself by hitting a double to win the game for the Eagles 14-13.
Quinn, who finished with two doubles and a single, said he felt no pressure when he came up to bat. “The score was tied and I knew they wanted to get ahead of me because they had two guys on. They didn’t want to put another guy on so I was looking for the fastball,” said Quinn.
“I didn’t feel any pressure. We had no outs and I had Zach (Shadoan) behind me and Zach’s been killing the ball. I got lucky. He left me a fastball out over the plate and I just put it into right field.”
When asked his assessment of the game Quinn answered, “I just hope it doesn’t get that interesting ever again.”
Matthew Gunter, coming in to pitch in the fourth inning for starter Quinn, picked up the win.
The Eagles fell behind 2-0 to Fayette County in the first game of the best-of-three series but scored six runs in the third inning, to include the two-run blast by Jake Smith to take a 7-2 lead. The Eagles won, 11-3.
O’Day went the distance for the Eagles striking out six while giving up three runs on two hits.
The Tigers jumped all over the Eagles in game two scoring seven runs in the first inning. The Eagles just couldn’t make up ground and lost 9-4.
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