Paxton moves on to second straight Class A regional final

By RANDY DICKSON

Florida Freedom Newspapers

PAXTON - History was made Friday night as Laurel Hill and Paxton squared off in the Class A baseball regional semifinals.

The contest between the rival Hoboes and Bobcats marked the first time the teams have met in both the district tournament championship game and a regional playoff game.

As was the case in the District 1-A championship game, Paxton prevailed, taking a 3-0 win.

Dan Geoghagan and Colby Forehand combined to toss a one-hitter and Jesse Crawford provided the offense, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.

The Bobcats will travel to Jacksonville to take on top-ranked Eagle's View on Friday in the best-of-three regional finals. It will be the Bobcats' second straight trip to the regional finals.

"It means a lot to me (to be able to help the team)," Crawford said. "We might be young, but I think we are going to surprise some people."

Laurel Hill pitcher Ethan Jackson matched Geoghagan batter-for-batter through three innings. It wasn't until the fourth that the Bobcats were able to sneak in a run.

Crawford and Zac Forehand connected on back-to-back singles with two outs in the inning, with Crawford taking third on the hit. Crawford then scored on a wild pitch by Jackson.

The Hoboes (10-16) got their only hit in the sixth inning on an infield single by Jackson.

Ryan Lewellen led off the Paxton sixth with a double and scored on Crawford's second hit of the night. Crawford took second on a sacrifice by Zac Forehand and scored on a two-strike single by Michael Smith.

Colby Forehand then retired the side in the top of the seventh to end the game.

"This is unbelievably unexpected," Paxton coach Jeff Bradley said. "We won a few games early and then stumbled in the middle against some pretty good teams. We didn't have anybody to step up as a leader because we don't have any seniors, and then finally, Colby, Ryan Lewellen and Michael Smith - those juniors - they came up big in the end."

And while it wasn't the ending Hobo coach Ronnie Smith had hoped for, he knew his team had given it their best.

"I'm very proud of them," he said. "I thought we played good baseball all night long. A couple of passed balls hurt us. But for the most part, I thought we really played well."