Huskies 'win silver' in 7A baseball final
JACKSONVILLE – The Hewitt-Trussville High School baseball team couldn’t quite break through Saturday afternoon.
After winning the first game of the series Friday night, the Huskies dropped the second and third games of the Class 7A championship series Saturday, 8-5 and 3-0, as Central earned its first state title in program history.
“I told our guys, ‘If someone can beat us twice in a weekend, we tip our hat to them,” Hewitt-Trussville head coach Jeff Mauldin said. “We tip our hat to Central.”
Hewitt-Trussville applied constant pressure to Central’s defense in the first game of the day Saturday, at Jacksonville State University’s Jim Case Stadium, but the big hit eluded the Huskies much of the contest.
Central put up four runs in the bottom of the second inning to take the early lead, but the Huskies were undeterred and began chipping away at the deficit. They scored two in the third on Ethan Duhon’s single and notched individual runs in the fourth and fifth innings to make it 5-4.
But Central got three more in the sixth to break the game open on a hit, wild pitch and sacrifice fly. Hewitt left six men on base in the game.
“We got guys on a lot and they got a couple guys on, and we couldn’t get the big hit,” Mauldin said. “I think we showed during the course of the game we never gave up. We never quit, had guys on base every inning trying to manufacture something.”
Baker Green pitched better than his line indicated Saturday morning, as he went 5+ innings, allowing eight runs on nine hits. Eayn Thomas pitched an inning of relief in the contest.
Offensively, Duhon’s single was the highlight, but Kurt Kizer went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Matt Miller and Riley Quick knocked in runs as well.
In the decisive game of the series, Jax Yoxtheimer held the Huskies at bay, firing a complete game shutout to lift the Red Devils to the state title. Central pushed across three runs in the first inning and that was all he needed. He scattered eight across his seven innings and finished with six strikeouts. He was named MVP of the series.
In that first inning, Brody Capps and Landon Russell had run-scoring hits and Russell later scored on a wild pitch for the Red Devils.
Logan Phillips got the game three start for Hewitt but lasted just an inning. Jacob Francis came on and slammed the door in relief, giving his team a chance. He threw five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out a pair.
“The thing I’m impressed with is we brought a freshman in and he put up zeroes every inning as a freshman [Francis]. That’s pretty remarkable. He gave us a chance to win.”
Hewitt-Trussville had an ideal start to the series Friday evening. Quick hurled a gem, throwing a three-hit shutout over seven innings to give the Huskies the opening victory. He struck out five and threw just 83 pitches in the stellar performance.
The Huskies scored twice in the second inning to stake themselves to an early lead and put it out of reach with four more in the fourth. In the second inning, Brett Moseley hit a triple, scoring Brooks McRae. He later scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
In the fourth, Moseley and Jack Ollis drew bases loaded walks to make it 4-0, and Duhon’s two-run hit made it 6-0.
The day represented a tough ending to an outstanding season for Hewitt-Trussville, which reached the championship series for the first time since 2019. The Huskies were in search of their first state title since 2016 as well. Hewitt finished with a 31-6-1 record, winning Area 6 and winning three playoff series to reach the final.
Mauldin referenced a tweet he saw earlier in the week from a past Olympic athlete.
"That put things in perspective," Mauldin said. "We didn’t win the gold, but we won the silver. It’s an accomplishment to do what we did, to win 30-plus games, to play in one of the toughest areas in the state, then go through Hoover, James Clemens and Vestavia Hills to get here. We won the silver."
The Huskies beat Hoover 8-6 and 6-3 in the opening round of the postseason, following that up with a dramatic three-game series over James Clemens in the second round. Hewitt-Trussville lost the first game 6-5 before coming back the to win games two and three 3-0 and 8-0.
In the semifinals, Hewitt dispatched Vestavia Hills 4-0 and 8-2 in a semifinals sweep.
The season caps off the illustrious high school careers of Zack Bittle, Jackson Cole, Duhon, Green, Omari Kelly, Jackson Kendrick, McRae, Miller, Phillips and Quick. Mauldin had nothing but great things about this group, which is the first one to come all the way up from the start of the Husky Baseball Club organization.
At the same time, Mauldin believes the program is in shape to be back at this stage in future seasons.
“Hewitt-Trussville baseball is going to be around for a while. We’re not just a flash in the pan,” he said.