Charleston – Saturday afternoon at Appalachian Power Park, Logan played for its second consecutive state baseball title.
However, that was not the main purpose the Wildcats had in mind when they battled Fairmont Senior.
“This whole season was for Jarron Glick. He would have probably started this game on the hill,” Logan head coach Kevin Gertz said. ” Just about a month after we won the title last year, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He went through hell and he was back in our dugout today. We are so proud of him and we love that kid. Winning a baseball state title is great. Winning in life is much better and he has won in life.”
Winning state title didn’t hurt either and the Wildcats did so, topping the Polar Bears 11-5 in the championship game.
Logan could not have asked for a much better start Saturday morning.
In the top of the first inning, a Polar Bear runner was nailed trying to take an extra base on a single to squash any hope of an early lead.
The Wildcats carried that momentum to the plate and put Fairmont Senior in an early bind.
After Korbin Bostic was hit by a pitch to open the game, Dawson Maynard blasted a shot to right-center that one hopped the wall for a ground rule double.
The Wildcats then turned to some small ball to frustrate the Polar Bears.
A sacrifice bunt attempt turned into a single before Garrett Williamson banged a single back up the middle to score Maynard.
Before Fairmont could get off the field another single from Konnor Lowe and a ground ball from Ryan Roberts made it 5-0 after the first inning.
“We executed early. That is what we do. Can our kids hit? Sure they can. Do they like bunting? No. We have won eight state titles because we can bunt and put pressure on people,” Gertz said. “When we start going around the bases like crazy, it makes it a lot easier to hit (when you’re) up five or six runs.”
Senior scored its first run in the top of the second thanks to a pair of Logan errors, but the Wildcats immediately went back to work in the bottom of the frame.
After coming up on the wrong end of a fair or foul call on a ball behind first base, Maynard stepped back in the box and launched a solo home run over the left field fence.
The junior slugger finished with three hits and two RBI on the day. He was a triple away from the cycle Saturday.
“For some odd reason I woke up on the right side of the bed today, I knew today was the day and I had to be aggressive at the plate,” Maynard said. “I was sitting off-speed and he threw me three straight. I fought the first two off and the third I was in the zone.”
The lead later went to 7-1 on Williamson’s second of three RBI he had for the game.
With whispers of the mercy rule floating in the air, the Polar Bears made it a game in the fifth inning.
Trailing 8-2, Fairmont added a pair of runs on a two-run double from Evan Dennison before Gavin Blair kept the two out magic roiling with an RBI-single.
However, that was as close as Fairmont could get the rest of the way.
A two-run double from Lowe in the sixth gave him three hits for the game and ballooned the advantage to five.
The Class AA State baseball all-tournament team consisted of Tyler Mackey, Shady Spring, Luke Sperry and Braden Thomason from Robert C. Byrd, Ryan Roberts, Dawson Maynard, Konnor Lowe and Korbin Bostic from Logan, Gunner Riley, Mayson Jack and Evan Dennison from Fairmont Senior.
