Max Meadows… The Fort Chiswell baseball team is in diligently preparing for the State semi-finals that will be held at Radford University this Friday at 10 am against the Windsor Dukes.
Not a lot is known about the Dukes who won the East Region Championship of Group 1A. The Dukes are believed to have a 15-6 record. Pioneer head coach Derrick Jackson said, ”We know they had a couple of very good left-handed pitchers. One of them is a senior by the name of Chidress. We’ve heard he has signed to play baseball for Hampden-Sydney. He’s supposed to throw in the upper 70’s low 80’s. Their other lefty is Williams who is a junior.”
Coach Jackson then remarked, “Their first baseman is Greg Ashburn. He’s a big kid, somewhere around 6’1” and about 230 or so. The catcher has a real good arm; their outfielders are athletic and fast. When Childress isn’t on the mound, he’s their centerfielder. I’ve heard they are an athletic, good-hitting ball club. They put the ball in play.
The Pioneers are as healthy as they have been for the season. They will probably go with Ben Porter in left, Jarrod Tuck in center and Tanner Bailey in right. Lucas Edmonds will get the nod at third; Chance Davis will be the shortstop. The second baseman will be Dallas Beasley and Tanner Cook the first baseman. Ben “Chow” Van Dyne will be the catcher and Bryson Booher will more than likely get the start on the mound. Jacob Coake, Hunter Collins, Coltin King, Sean Morgan, Cody Burkes and Konner Rotenizer make up the rest of the team. Derrick Jackson is the head coach and his assistants are: Josh Wingate, Jerrad Blevins, Doug Tuck, Clinton Beasley, Corey Mabry and Michael Copas.
Coach Jackson said, ”Bryson’s record as a varsity pitcher is 23-3 and he’s 9-1 this year.“ Booher has signed to play baseball at
Concord University in Athens West Virginia next year. Fort Chiswell is 19-4 this season. In addition to Booher’s impressive pitching, Dallas Beasley is 7-0 while on the mound and hard-luck Chance Davis is 3-2. Their other loss was charged to Tanner Bailey, 0-1. The Pioneers are the West Region Group 1A runners-up as they lost to Eastside 4-3 late last Friday night.
Eastside scored in the bottom of first and held that lead to the top of the seventh. The game was originally to be played Thursday at 6 pm at UVA- Wise. The game was moved to Coeburn because of heavy rains and then was rained out there. They game then was rescheduled for Friday at 6pm but it rained again. The game finally started at 730- 7:45. As the game proceeded the fog rolled in and another delay occurred. Finally it was restarted and as the Pioneers scored three runs in the top of the seventh to take a 3-1 lead, needing just three outs for the championship.
Then a couple of miscues and the game got tied at three. With one out and runners on second and third Eastside laid down a bunt that was fielded by their pitcher. He looked at the runner back at third and he then threw out the batter at first for the second out. The runner then broke to home on the throw to first and the runner was called safe to end the game.
If the Pioneers win Friday morning they would play for a State Championship Saturday morning at Radford University at 10 am. They would play the winner of the Eastside -Rappahannock game.
When asked when was the last time Fort Chiswell baseball was in the state semi-finals head coach Derrick Jackson replied, ”I think this is the first time. We made the state quarter-finals in 2010 and 2012 but this the first time as far as I know to the state semis.”
The Pioneers will get that chance Friday morning at 10 am against the Windsor Dukes at Radford University.