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ESTILL - Patrick Henry Academy's "Young Guns" lost the Class A State baseball title Tuesday night, but they didn't go down without a fight.
The Patriots were playing their first varsity season in eight years and won the Lower State title. That pitted them against a Laurens Academy team that has long been a powerhouse with back-to-back state titles already under its belt.
PHA fell 14-2 in Tuesday night's game after dropping Game 1 of the best-of-three series 17-2 on Monday.
"We call this team our ‘Young Guns'," assistant coach Paul Creason said. "They could have lain down and quit, but they battled back. We've got really good kids, and that's what impresses me the most. That's the story that needs to be told. They're champions to us."
Despite the score, the Patriots (14-5-1) earned respect against the defending state champions and finished the series with the state runner-up trophy.
"We had a good year, nothing to hang our heads about," coach Bo Wilson told his team after the game. "Nobody expected us to be here. We've done something special this year."
Laurens is considered a benchmark of baseball excellence, competing against both private and public (AAA and AAAA) schools. Laurens has not lost to a SCISA opponent in three years.
"We're going to have a banner year next year," said Wilson. "We'll see these guys again."
A group of young men that one Laurens fan described as "gentlemen," the Patriots clapped and looked on while the Crusaders were presented the State Championship cup.
"A first year varsity team playing in the state championship is pretty good," added Creason. "We're just getting started."
This season-ending showdown opened to the crash of Crusader bats. Laurens opened up the first inning with a smashing three-run homer into a nearby cornfield to take a 3-0 lead early.
Meanwhile, the Patriot bats were strangely silent.
"Their pitchers were the best I've seen in two years of baseball," said Creason.
More hard hitting - including a second Laurens homer - combined with a Patriots error bumped the Crusaders up 9-0 in the second inning, but LA was far from finished. The almost-unstoppable batsmen added five runs in the third inning and threatened to take the game early with a mercy ruling.
But the Patriots were far from whipped. C.J. Sheffield stepped to the plate and swatted a triple that drove two of his comrades home for PHA's only scores of the game. After a scoreless fifth inning, the game was called under the ten-run mercy rule.
"We had our heads on straight, but those guys were tough," said Sheffield after the game. "We tried our best. We couldn't have had a better season."
The Rowell brothers also went out with a bang at the plate, with Austin Rowell tallying two hits and one run and his brother Andrew added a run and one base on balls.
Sheffield opened up on the mound, with relief from Andrew Rowell, while Austin, often described as the spark plug of the squad, closed out the night by recording six strikeouts and stalling Lauren's momentum.
To kick off the best-of-three series, Patrick Henry also fell 17-2 to the Crusaders at Laurens Monday night. Austin Rowell had a homer, Jacob Barnes had one hit and one run, and Sheffield had one hit.
The Patriots will return even stronger and more experienced next year, losing only one player to graduation.
"It's been a fanatic year," said senior Craig Kendrick. "I love all these guys and I have really enjoyed myself this season. It's been an emotional afternoon and I'm going to miss it. I wish I could come back next year."
Despite the loss, Wilson's post-game chat was almost like a congratulations speech.
"I'm proud of you," Wilson told his team. "I've had more fun this year than I have ever had. It was just a good fun season and you guys learned a lot of baseball."
A snapshot of PHA baseball history
2001 - PHA fielded a small varsity baseball team.
2002 - PHA did not field a baseball team.
2003-2008 - With primarily young athletes, PHA competed at the junior varsity level.
2009 - PHA returned to the varsity arena and captured a region title, the Lower State title, and finished as the runner up for the SCISSA Class A State Championship. The Patriots ended the season with a 14-5-1 record.