Estill – Wayne Brown said from the beginning of the baseball season that he had a sneaking suspicion his Patrick Henry Academy squad could end up hoisting the trophy for the SCISA AA state championship winner.
It turns out Brown knew his Patriots pretty well.
After losing to Calhoun Academy 7-6 in the first game of the best-of-3 state championship series, PHA rallied from a 9-1 deficit in Game 2 to win 10-9 and force a deciding game. This one wasn’t close after Patrick Henry scored eight runs in the bottom of the third inning to go on to a 12-2, 5-inning triumph at the Orangeburg Preparatory School field on Saturday, May 20.
This is PHA’s first baseball state title since 1991.
“This was huge for our school, community and program,” said Brown, whose team finished the season with an 18-7 record. “Tuesday, we were down 9-1, then 9-5 after five. Then with two outs to score four runs is a testimony to how our guys are. Tough, hard-nosed, blue-collar guys that work hard in practice and hate to lose.”
Calhoun scored two runs in the top of the first inning before the Patriots got one of them back in the bottom of the inning. PHA then exploded for eight runs in the third to go up 9-2. They wrapped it up with three runs in the fifth to force the 10-run mercy rule.
Twin brothers Forest Fairey and Hugh Fairey led PHA’s 12-hit attack with three hits apiece. Forest Fairey had a double and a triple, four runs batted ond had three runs scored. Hugh Fairey had three RBI and two runs.
Hugh’s final RBI came by delivering Forest from third base in an 11-2 game, thus letting them enjoy the championship-winning run together.
“I can’t say enough about this group,” Brown said. “The Fairey twins are hard to strike out and when the get on base they do damage.”
Nathan Corley was 2-for-2 with two runs batted in. Andrew Serles, Sims Brunson and Chandler Brown each had a hit, a run and an RBI, Charlie Sauls had a hit and a run, Jacob Corey scored twice and Spencer Kelehear scored once.
Chandler Brown got the win, shutting Calhoun down after the 2-run first. He went the distance with six strikeouts while walking four and allowing four hits.
“We knew going into this game our bats would get hot at some point,” Coach Brown said. “We just needed a big game from Chandler and we got it. He gave up two runs in the first and mothing after. He stepped into a big role and competed his tail off.”
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