Huskies sweep Vestavia, roll into finals
TRUSSVILLE – The Hewitt-Trussville High School baseball is headed back to the state finals.
The Huskies have ridden dominant pitching and timely hitting to win after win this season, and they grabbed two more Friday night against Vestavia Hills in the Class 7A semifinals using the same formula.
Hewitt-Trussville won 4-0 and 8-2 to sweep the best-of-three series at Phil English Field.
In the first game, Riley Quick assumed his ace form and threw 6 1/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing just three hits and two walks. He struck out 13 batters as well. Logan Phillips came on to get the final two outs and slam the door shut.
Hewitt broke the seal on a scoreless game in the bottom of the third with a run, scoring a single run in the third through sixth innings to take the four-run edge.
Brooks McRae scored on an error in the third to give the Huskies their first run. McRae’s run-scoring double in the next inning made it 2-0. Baker Green drew a walk with the bases loaded and Kurt Kizer stroked an RBI single to give Hewitt its 4-0 lead.
Hewitt broke open a close game late to take the win in game two. Green threw a gem, allowing two runs on four hits in a complete game. He struck out six and walked three in his outing.
Ethan Duhon’s bases loaded walk in the second inning opened the game’s scoring, with the Huskies making it 3-0 the following inning on Quick’s RBI double and Brett Moseley’s sacrifice fly.
Vestavia drew within a run in the fourth after loading the bases and scratching across a couple runs.
Moseley hit another sac fly in the fifth to make it 4-2, and the Huskies put the exclamation mark on the contest with four more runs on five hits in the seventh.
Hewitt-Trussville will face Central-Phenix City in the 7A finals this week. Central is one of just four teams to beat the Huskies this season and beat Auburn in a three-game semifinals series last weekend.
Game one of the series will take place at 7 p.m. Friday at Oxford’s Choccolocco Park. Games two and three (if necessary) will be played at Jacksonville State University’s Jim Case Field on Saturday.
It is Hewitt’s first trip to the finals since 2019, when the Huskies fell to Auburn. Hewitt won its only state title in program history in 2016.