CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For the first time since 1988, a state title in baseball is heading to Short Gap, West Virginia.
After runs came at a premium in the semifinals, a 2-1 walk-off win in eight innings over Herbert Hoover, runs came early and often in the Class AA Final.
Frankfort shut out Independence 8-0 to win it all on Saturday at GoMart Ballpark.
“I’m just proud of my guys,” Frankfort head coach Matt Miller said. “They played so hard all season long. We’ve fought through some adversity, we had some injuries and we fought through those. These kids play with so much heart, so much hustle.”
Against Hoover, Blake Jacobs opened the scoring with a inside the park home run in the top of the first.
Against Independence, it was Jaxon Hare’s turn for the Falcons (22-9).
With the bases loaded, he hit a soft line drive to left center that dropped in for a two-run single to put Frankfort up 2-0.
“Big two out RBI single from Jaxon got it rolling,” Miller said of the early offense. “Once we got it rolling, we didn’t stop offensively.”
In the bottom of the second, Lanson Orndorf, Blake Jacobs and Cam Lynch drew three straight walks.
Jacobs and Lynch each took first on four pitches, loading the bases for Jacob Nething.
He sent the first pitch into left for a sacrifice fly RBI to push the Falcons lead to three.
“It helps me out a lot,” Lynch said of pitching with an early lead. “They come through for me every single day. I’m very confident on the mound with them hitting. Even if we start out slow, I know they’re gonna start it back up.”
Frankfort then pulled off a double steal with Lynch stealing second while Jacobs swiped home to go up 4-0.
Uriah Cutter sent a line drive to left center for an RBI hit to add another run.
Leading 5-0 in the bottom of the third, Frankfort put two on and Orndorf hit a line drive to right for an RBI single.
“We talked last night about being patient, hunting fastballs and working counts,” Miller said. “We got fastballs, and when we got fastballs, we hit them on a line.”
Hare collected his second hit and third RBI in the bottom of the fourth.
He sent a ground ball past first base for an RBI single to push the lead to seven.
“Yesterday I didn’t do that well,” Hare said. “I was just sitting fastball. Yesterday I didn’t put the ball in play, but today I found the gaps.”
The Falcons executed a second double steal in the sixth inning.
With two on, Cutter stole second while Jacobs crossed home plate.
After Orndorf took a no-hit bid for 6 1/3 innings on Friday, Lynch went four innings without allowing a hit on Saturday.
The Patriots opened the top of the fifth with consecutive singles by Orion Wells and Micah Cuthbert.
After a three pitch strikeout, Lynch fielded a lineout.
He threw to Peyton Durst at second for one out, Durst then fired to Cutter at first to complete an inning-ending double play.
Cole Cunningham recorded the Patriots’ third hit in the seventh inning.
Lynch threw a complete-game shutout, allowing three hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.
“He’s special. I always use a statement, great players make great plays in great situations,” Miller said. “He’s a big time player and made big time plays in big time situtations.”
Hare and Orndorf led Frankfort with two hits, Hare driving in three RBIs.
Independence used two pitchers and both struggled to find the zone.
The Falcons had 16 at-bats with either a two- or three-ball count.
After the game, Orndorf, Cutter, Jacobs and Lynch were named to the Class AA All-Tournament team.
Orndorf threw 7 1/3 innings in the semifinal on Friday, allowing one hit and one unearned run with eight strikeouts.
Orndorf and Lynch combined to allow one run across the two games on the mound.
While Lynch did not record a hit in either game, he drew five walks.
“It’s something we’ve been doing all year,” Orndorf said of the pitching success. “Rely on our defense, trust in our stuff. We got the best pitching staff in the state.”
Cutter had one hit and an RBI in each of the tournament games, walking off the semifinal win over Hoover on an RBI single past first in the eighth.
Jacobs combined for four hits across the two games with a double, an inside-the-park home run and an RBI.
“We have a bunch of grinders,” Miller said. “We pieced everything together. Offensively, two-out hits like we talked about. We made every defensive play today. We pitched great, our catcher did a great job keeping it in front of him.”
The state title is the second in school history for Frankfort and the first in 36 years.
The Falcons finished as runner-ups in 1981, 2001 and 2019.
“I think it means a lot to our county,” Lynch said. “Our community helps us out a lot. As you can see with the crowd, we’re four and a half hours away. Look at how many people we had. We probably had 100-plus here, that means a lot.”
Independence head coach Scott Cuthbert coached Miller at Ohio Valley University.
“It’s bittersweet, I respect him so much,” Miller said. “He’s one of my great friends from college. He was a good support system. I don’t wanna say it was sweeter to beat him, actually it was less sweet to beat him.”