High school baseball: Holmes County tops Fort White, ends Indians' season with 4-1 win

FORT MYERS — Adversity has been shy around Fort White baseball this season. 

The Indians started the season to a rocky 1-4 start, but righted the ship with a 12-game win streak. 

Later in the season, Fort White lost the District 6-1A title game to Union County, which put its chance at a state-tournament berth in jeopardy.

Yet, when they were given a second chance at life and drew Union County in the opening round of playoffs, the Indians responded with a win and kept winning — advancing to Fort White's first final four appearance in program history. 

Despite finding the answers all season, the Indians couldn't answer the call on Wednesday night as they suffered a 4-1, season-ending loss to Holmes County in the Class 1A semifinal from Hammond Stadium. 

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Here are takeaways from the game. 

Jonathan Fischer, Landon Lumpkin duel it out early

Fort White senior Jonathan Fischer and Holmes County sophomore Landon Lumpkin each got the nod to start on Wednesday night with a title-game appearance on the line. 

While Fischer and the Indians didn't get the result they wanted, that alone had Fort White's ace keeping a smile on his face. 

"It felt amazing," Fischer said. "Just to know that you have the coach's trust. Like, here's the ball, go send us to the state championship... It feels great. I'm just a little disappointed in myself that we couldn't get it done."

Both Fischer and Lumpkin dealt at the start of the game, each tallying a pair of strikeouts in the first inning. 

Fort White's hot-handed ace continued to cause headaches for Holmes County's lineup, tallying five of his night's seven strikeouts in the opening three innings. But down the stretch, the Blue Devils began making adjustments to combat Fischer's pitches. 

Six of Holmes County's nine hits against Fischer came in the third inning or later.

"First two innings I was rolling," Fischer said. "Next couple of innings... I was leaking a lot over the plate. Yeah, my stuff has movement, but it doesn't really matter if I'm throwing it over the heart of the plate."

Fischer ended his night after five inning of action that saw him give up nine hits, two earned runs and two walks. 

Indians' first opportunity erased

While the scoreboard doesn't show Fort White's first run coming until the final frame, the Indians appeared to have scratched across a run in top of the first inning, only for it to be nixed. 

After Fort White junior Tucker Hardee sent a two-out single into right field, Fischer followed with a plate appearance that saw him go up 3-0, before Lumpkin battled back to a full count. 

All the while, Hardee had stolen second, setting up a scoring play for Fischer, who sent a line drive out to the outfield, plating Hardee for the first run of the game. Or so everyone thought. 

A seemingly late call from the home plate umpire cited Lumpkin for a dead-ball balk, which took away the play prior. 

"That's baseball 101," Fort White head coach Rick Julius said. "Things you can control and things you can't control... But that's only one run and they got four. So it really wouldn't have made a whole lot if difference."

But, Fischer isn't so sure that's the case. 

"I think if that run gets on the board, we win," Fischer said. "Obviously the math doesn't add up, but I think just the way momentum works, especially in a game like baseball. ... It really means a lot."

Holmes County pulls away

The Blue Devils' first run of the night came in the bottom of the third inning after Holmes County senior Jacob Riley (1-3, walk) led off the inning with a double to centerfield. 

Fort White went on to intentionally walk senior Colby Jones (2-2, RBI), who boasts a .568 average, which set up a sacrifice fly for sophomore Braydon Young, scratching across Riley to break the scoreless stalemate. 

It was a long fourth inning that did the Indians in as the Blue Devils once again led off with a double — this time by sophomore Sheldon Sparks (3-3), who was immediately driven in by a Lumpkin (1-3, RBI) with a RBI single out to right field. 

Fort White would force the second out before committing an error, opting to intentionally walk Riley and giving up back-to-back RBI singles to bring the score to 4-0. 

"They made adjustments at the plate and we didn't," Julius said of the Blue Devils. "They started making adjustments quick and put the ball in play. We gotta tip our hat to them."

Looking ahead

Holmes County baseball will look to capture its first state title, despite appearing in the championship game three times in the program's history. 

The Blue Devils will square off against the Bozeman Bucks on Thursday night at 7 from Hammond Stadium. 

Fort White closes its season with a record of 16-7 and a postseason run that will go down in the school's history. 

"In 22 years in the history of Fort White, no one has ever come to the state tournament," Julius told his team. "The accomplishments made tonight may never be touched again. You are going down in history. The first team to ever do it."