South County Baseball Advances to State Championship Game

South County won its 28th baseball game of the season on Friday evening. The Stallions jumped out to an 8-0 lead behind a grand slam from Tyler Frazier and held on for a 13-8 win over James River to qualify for the VHSL Class AAA state championship game on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m.) at Westfield.

But instead of jubilation after the last out was recorded on a fly to left, there was concern on the faces of Frazier, top starter Evan Beal and coach Mark Luther.

Frazier, who had a pair of double-digit strikeout games in the postseason, went six innings in the team’s regional semifinal win over Madison, and pitched again on Tuesday in the first round of the state tournament, tweaked his right shoulder making a throw to first to get the first out of the fourth inning.

He was supposed to be on the mound for the Stallions in the state championship game against Great Bridge. But now, who knows who will be out there. Evan Beal, the team’s other star starter, threw more than 100 pitches on Friday over 4 2/3 innings. The Stallions sent out a parade of less-experienced pitchers to close out James River (19-5) and those pitchers struggled.

Beal left the game with two outs in the fifth after having given up just two runs on four hits and six walks, and freshman Patrick Campo relieved him with 1 1/3 solid innings. But Jake Josephs, the Stallions’ third pitcher most of the year, allowed four runs while recording just one out. Mike Perez, South County’s catcher, had to take off the gear and get the final two outs to end the game.

That makes one wonder – if Frazier can’t go, who will?

Especially against Great Bridge, which scored 10 early runs against Battlefield en route to a 19-7 semifinal win.

“I’m hopefully going to be able to pitch,” said Frazier, who had an ice pack on his shoulder as the final out was recorded. “I’m going to get my arm looked at. If I can go, I’m going to go.  If I can’t, we’ll have whoever we’ve got. It’s going to be fine. We’ll support him with the bats.”

The Stallions, who came into the game with 53 homers on the season and clobbered two more Friday, will need more of that firepower on Saturday. Especially since Beal, recently drafted by the Kansas City Royals, seems to think his high school career is over.

“I’ve thrown a heck of a bunch of pitches,” Beal said. “I threw over a hundred in the regional final and then came back in the first round and threw 45 over two innings, and a hundred-plus today. … I’m probably not going to pitch tomorrow.”

And there’s no doubt the Royals would like to see their eighth-round pick keep his arm healthy as long as possible, too.

Luther did his best to look confident in the waning sunlight at the end of the long game, but even he said it would take “some kind of Mr. Miyagi treatment,” to get Frazier on the mound Saturday.

And if that’s not enough of a worry, the South County prom was on Friday night. Who knows whether the players will heed Luther’s advice to take it easy.

“Prom is important, there’s no question about it,” he said. “But there are going to be some other moments in their lives that are far better than prom. … I’m just hoping my boys take good care of themselves.”

Regardless of what happens in the championship game on Saturday, there was still a game on Friday, and the Stallions showed why they’re worthy of being state finalists. They pounded out 13 hits and scored in every inning but the fifth. And even in that frame, they loaded the bases before Tyler Carrico struck out Mike Egbert and Shane Foley to end the inning.

“Every inning but one, they got their leadoff man on,” said James River coach Pete Schumacher. “Teams like that, that keep coming after you, they’re the ones that can go all the way.”

Frazier’s grand slam, over the high fence that goes from gap-to-gap in the outfield, came with two outs, just after James River starter Jack Roberts struck out Mike Perez.

“I was on his fastball the first time, so I was actually thinking off-speed,” Frazier said. “He just left it hanging over the plate and just went with it. It felt good. … It was just a pop-up, but I had a feeling it was gone.”

The homer was just the first blow in what turned out to be a runaway win for the Stallions.

South County is a team that has had the answer 28 times this year, but state-championship-game-Saturday will begin with more questions than answers. The Stallions hope they have still one answer in reserve Saturday.