Fuquay-Varina’s baseball team overcame an opening game loss to win the NCHSAA 4A State Championship Series for the second time in three seasons with a 12-1 win over Reagan in Game 3 at Burlington Athletic Stadium on Saturday.
After being no-hit in Friday’s Game 1, the Bengals (16-4, 10-2 South Wake 4A) combined for 32 hits on Saturday — 17 hits in Game 2 and 15 hits in Game 3.
Jackson Humphries got the win on the mound, allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts in four and two-thirds innings. Daniel Eagen closed out the remainder of the game, allowing no runs on two hits with one strikeout in two and one-third innings.
Fuquay-Varina jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Ryan McCrystal legged out a one-out triple to get things started. Then Aidan Cannady drew a walk and Parker McGraw was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Will Orr then hit a chopper up the middle and the Reagan defense was unable to get the out at second, bringing in a run and leaving the bases loaded for Drew Beauchesne, who was hit by a pitch to bring in another run and make it 2-0.
The Bengals tacked on three more in the top of the second. Evan Giordano led off with a single, Rhett James singled and McCrystal walked to load the bases for Cannady, who singled to left to plate a pair of runs. Then McGraw was hit by a pitch and Orr lifted a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0.
There was an hour-long rain delay in the bottom of the second, but Fuquay-Varina’s bats were still hot when they came back in the top of third as they scored another run. First Jackson Humphries led off with a single, then Giordano hit into an outless fielder’s choice and Joseph singled to left to drive in a run and make it 6-0.
The Bengals added three more runs in the top of the fourth. Orr led off with a walk, stole second and scored on a two-out single by Giordano. Then Joseph singled to put two on for James. After a wild pitch moved them both into scoring position, James singled to left to bring both in and make it 9-0.
Reagan finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Tommy Hawke led off with a single, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Josh Hartle to make it 9-1.
Fuquay-Varina tacked on three more insurance run in the top of the seventh. Orr led off with a double, moved to third on a single by Beauchesne and scored on a wild pitch. Then Humphries doubled to bring in another run and make it 11-1. Humphries then advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a ground out by Giordano to make it 12-1.
Prior to the Series, Fuquay-Varina’s Brandon Humphreys and Reagan’s Colby Welborn each received the NCHSAA’s Sportsmanship Award for their respective teams.
