Carson Francis, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
ATHENS — With its season on the line, Fairfield Union showed no sign of quit.
Down to their final two outs, the Falcons’ then-dormant offense finally woke up in the seventh inning of a Division IV regional final against Richmond Edison. With just two hits going into the seventh, Fairfield Union rallied to tie the game at 2-2 and send the game into extra innings.
That seventh-inning rally made way for 10-inning magic that will live in Fairfield Union history forever.
Dylan Chilcote gave the Falcons a two-run lead with a double in the top of the 10th as Fairfield Union (23-6) pulled away to a 5-2 victory, claiming the school’s first regional title in 40 years.
CREDIT: Raymond Gleadle/SOSA
“Our motto all year has been to stay even and stay in the fight. Our assistant coach [Ryan] Grice said if you don’t believe it now, you’re never going to believe it,” Falcons’ head coach Scott Burke said. “I’m still in shock. What a gutsy rally and what a comeback, and I couldn’t be more proud of these guys for just battling.”
For the better part of the first four innings, though, offense was hard to come by on both sides.
Even though Edison (24-7) put runners in scoring position in each of the first four frames, Falcons starting pitcher Eli Wolfe left them stranded each time, keeping things scoreless through four complete.
But Fairfield Union was unable to capitalize with its bats, and in the bottom of the fifth, the Wildcats finally broke the scoring open.
Edison opened the home half with three straight singles to load the bases with no outs. That allowed Kyle Long to smack a line drive up the middle to drive in two runs, giving the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.
And following a 1-2-3 sixth inning, Fairfield Union’s season now stood on life support.
But the Falcons just kept on believing.
With one out, RJ Hedges reached on a bunt-single to load the bases before Ashton Waldrop walked to bring home the Falcons’ first run. Then, with the Falcons attempting a suicide squeeze play, the ball got away from Edison’s catcher and allowed Hedges to score from third, knotting things up at 2-2.
Brand new ballgame.
“When I got on, it felt like that was a momentum-changer because it was a good at-bat, and it picked up the energy for the whole rest of the game,” Codie Andrews, who scored FU’s first run, said. “It just gave us motivation to push through and do what we needed to do to win.”
PHOTOS: Images from Fairfield Union’s regional championship win over Edison
Now with momentum on their side, the Falcons controlled the pace of the game as Wolfe, with the help of his defense, held off Edison’s offense in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to keep the 2-2 score in the 10th.
There, Fairfield Union saw the opportunity to win it and never looked back.
Alex Burke led off the inning with a double, and Brady Andrews singled to put runners on the corners with one gone.
That’s when, for the second time in his team’s tournament run, Chilcote played hero-ball.
The junior launched a 2-2 pitch high into left field, where it fell just shy of the warning track and allowed both runners to score, giving the Falcons a two-run advantage. Codie Andrews then drove in an insurance run with a sacrifice fly RBI, giving Fairfield Union a 5-2 lead heading into the bottom half.
And with three outs remaining, Joe Blankenship took over on the mound and delivered a 1-2-3 inning to close out the win, sending his team to the state tournament for the first time since 1986.
“All of our coaches all year have talked about staying with the process in what we’ve been through, and the outcome is always going to be what it is,” Chilcote said. “But you have to stay level-headed throughout the whole entire process. Without that mentality, I think this game is a whole different story.”
Codie Andrews led the way for the Falcons, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run driven in while Chilcote was 1-for-5 with his two-run double. On the mound, Wolfe went the first nine innings, striking out four batters while only walking two and surrendering two earned runs. Blankenship picked up the win after a scoreless 10th inning to seal the deal.
Fairfield Union moves on to the Division IV state semifinal, which will be played on June 13 at 7 17 Credit Union Park in Akron.
The Falcons will meet with Middletown Bishop Fenwick, who knocked off Roger Bacon by a 5-4 final, at 1 p.m.
“My son’s a senior, so it’s super special to go through this moment with him, but these guys are all special. A lot of them have been with me a long time, since little league, so it’s very special with all these seniors,” Burke said. “As far as Bishop Fenwick goes, we don’t know a whole lot right now. We don’t play for another nine days, which kind of stinks, but we’re going to keep our minds on baseball the best we can.”
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