FLEMING ISLAND – Tied at 1-1 in the ninth inning, Fleming Island had to be pretty confident with the heart of its lineup coming up; unfortunately so did Chiles.
The only difference it was the bottom of the lineup that came through for Chiles.
Jackson Welsh hitting in the six whole, drew a leadoff walk, eighth hitter Mason Carron singled to left center and ninth hitter Grant Gallagher walked to load the bases with one out.
Welsch scored on a pass ball giving the Timberwolves the lead back at 2-1.
Leadoff hitter Sam Rudd came through with the 2 RBI double to right center to score both Carron and Gallagher to give the Timberwolves a 4-1 lead.
They wouldn’t let up, as Tyler Gertison followed with a RBI single to score Rudd to increase the lead to 5-1.
Down four in the bottom of the ninth, Fleming Island (19-8) had a huge hill to climb but wouldn’t go down quietly.
Mercer doubled to left center to start the inning, while Justin Harkins grounded out to third for the first out.
Dylan Bonham lined right to shortstop Gallagher, who then doubled up Mercer who was off of second base on the play for the double play to end the game fittingly on another defensive play.
The game was full of defensive plays a big reason why the game stay so low scoring and tied for so long.
Both also left numerous runners on base thanks to the superb defense by both.
After getting a one out single from Adam Peck to right field, Mercer lined into a double play as Carron caught the line drive and doubled up Peck on second to end the first.
Chiles loaded the bases in the second with one out, yet starter Zach Mercer got a 6-4-3 double play from Noah McCullom to Dylan Bonham to Justin Harkins to get out of the second inning.
After getting a runner to second in the first two innings, Chiles finally broke through in the third. Rudd singled in the infield between the mound and first base and scored on a RBI grounder by Mason Sanford to give Chiles a 1-0 lead.
That’s where things stood till the bottom of the fifth, when the Eagles took advantage of a rare Chiles error.
Mercer got out of another bases loaded jam in the top of the fifth with another 6-4-3 double play from McCullom, Bonham and Harkins to keep it tied.
Bonham singled to left center to start the fifth, stole second and reached third on a pass ball. After two fly outs, Jack Gidcumb singled through the legs of shortstop Gallagher allowing Bonham to score tying the game at 1-1 after five innings.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Eagles had a chance to walk it off as Harkins reached on an error at short, Bonham laid down a sac bunt to move Harkins over to second.
Yet TimberWolves starter Ben Gilley got out of the inning with a strikeout and a fly out to right to force extra innings.
Tyler Gertison lead off the eighth with a single to right and moved to second on a grounder to the mound.
With two outs, Zach Holcomb got a hold of a fast ball and appeared to drive it in the right center field gap for the go ahead run, yet Peck chsed it down and made an unbelievable over the shoulder catch to keep it tied.
Gilley retired the side in the eighth to send the game to the top of the ninth.
The stunning loss ended the two year run by the Eagles (19-8) and the 12 seniors after a run to the Elite 8 last season and back-to-back district titles under head coach Grant Bigilin.
