Charleston – Twenty years ago Cabell Midland reigned as the Class AAA baseball state champions.
Saturday afternoon the Knights were back in the championship game and once again raised the coveted championship trophy.
Putting nine runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning, Cabell Midland defeated Hedgesville 11-8 at Go-Mart Park.
“It has been a long time coming,” Cabell Midland head coach Tracy Brumfield said. “Midland won the title in 2003 and this was our first time back since 2013. You can’t explain the emotions of how great this feels.”
Cabell Midland took the initial 2-0 lead on a double from Jack Eastone and a single from Ben Fulks.
Just when the Knights appeared to be in cruise control, three errors in the top of the third inning allowed Hedgesville to even the game at 2-2.
The Eagles took their only lead of the game thanks to another Midland error in fourth inning before the Knights put up the big number in the bottom of the frame.
“Our bats finally came alive like the other night against St. Albans,” Brumfield said. “The bunts really charged the kids up and got the momentum going our way. Then the bats came alive.
The nine-run explosion started with small ball and some controversy.
Midland disrupted the Eagles with three straight bunt singles, two of which were bang-bang plays that went in favor of the Knights.
Eastone then singled home one run before Kenyon Collins and Luke Samuel each sent two more runners across the plate. Before the dust cleared, Midland had scored nine runs and held an 11-3 advantage.
Hedgesville did not go quietly and scored five runs in the fifth, but that was as close as the Eagles could get the rest of the way.
Eastone led the Knights with three hits in three trips, while driving in three runs. Samuel also had three hits on the day and two RBI.
