Jarrett Garrison
Derrick Webb

Derrick Webb

Derrick is SOSA's chief content coordinator and has worked for the Chillicothe Gazette, the Portsmouth Daily Times and Eleven Warriors. He's a 13-time award-winning journalist, a self-proclaimed baseball purist, a suffering Bengals fan and has never met a stranger.

Behind Garrison’s gem, Adena breezes into third district final in four years

Adena advanced into a district championship contest with a win over Fairland Thursday evening.

Derrick Webb, Staff Writer

CHILLICOTHE — The Adena Warriors still haven’t lost in the month of May.

After dropping a pair of contests to Minford way back on April 27, the Warriors came into Thursday’s Division III district semifinal on a nine-game winning streak.

And they weren’t about to let a 10th straight victory slip through their fingers.

Adena’s Nate Throckmorton dives safely back into first base during the Warriors’ 11-0 win over Fairland.
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA

Behind a pitching gem from sophomore Jarrett Garrison and timely hitting from a white-hot offense, Adena (19-10) handed Proctorville Fairland an 11-0 loss at VA Memorial Stadium — advancing to the program’s third district championship contest in four years.

“It’s really just been defense and better at-bats,” senior Ethan Kunkel said of the 10-game winning streak. “We had one error and double-digit hits tonight. We’ve turned around our season.”

The Warriors got on the board first thanks to Nate Throckmorton. The sophomore drew a one-out walk before taking the next three bases on passed balls to give Adena an early 1-0 lead.

In the second, Adena added to its advantage.

Garrett Wilburn led off the inning with a single before Roman Long reached on error. After both were rewarded the next base on a balk call, Garrison helped his own cause with a two-run double to make it 3-0.

Ethan Kunkel singled to begin the third before stealing second base. He then scored on an RBI single via Caleb Foglesong, handing the Warriors a 4-0 edge. With Foglesong standing on second, Zach Fout and Wilburn both drew walks to load the bases.

Fairland mishandled the next ball put in play, allowing Foglesong and Fout to score, pushing the lead to 6-0.

Adena’s Roman Long (15) congratulates teammate Caleb Foglesong after Foglesong scored in the Warriors’ 11-0 win over Fairland Thursday.
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA

In the fifth, Wilburn struck again, making it 7-0 with an RBI single to score Foglesong. The Warriors extended the lead to 8-0 in the sixth after Lucas Foglesong tripled to begin the frame and later scored on an RBI groundout via Throckmorton.

The Warriors rounded out the 11-0 final when Lucas Foglesong rocketed an inside-the-park home run in the seventh, knocking in Wilburn and Emmitt Cunningham.

Lucas Foglesong led the offense, going 2-for-5 with a triple, a homer and three RBIs while Garrison finished 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Wilburn was 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs, and Caleb Foglesong was 2-for-2 with two runs and an RBI.

Garrison earned the pitching win, tossing five innings of three-hit baseball. He struck out four batters and walked a pair. Lucas Foglesong pitched the final two innings without surrendering a hit and whiffing all six batters he faced.

“I’m so thankful for Jarrett. He’s a great athlete,” senior Zach Fout said. “He throws the ball hard and he located his pitches well tonight. We’re thankful to have him out there on the mound. He’s one of our aces.”

The Warriors will now get a third crack at Minford this season when the two teams meet in a Division III district final at 11 a.m., Saturday at VA Memorial Stadium.

A win would mark the school’s first district title since 2014 — a 9-1 win over Crooksville.

“We just have to play fundamental defense,” Fout said. “We have to play error-free and come out and hit the ball. We’ll see what happens.”

Kunkel echoed those sentiments.

“We just have to do what we did tonight,” he said. “Jarrett threw really well tonight. We had plenty of extra-base hits and we played great defense. If we do those things Saturday, we’re going to be OK.”

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