UPPER ARLINGTON — East Knox made history last spring, capturing its first district title under the bright lights of Lancaster’s Beavers Field.
And the Bulldogs were three innings away from doing it again Saturday.
They led Fairfield Christian Academy, 3-1, in the top of the fourth inning, when play resumed at Upper Arlington High School. The game began Thursday night, but was postponed until Friday – and then again until Saturday – due to rain.
Just three innings stood between East Knox and its second district title. The Bulldogs entered the afternoon with a two-run head start, thanks to a RBI double from Bryar Householder and a RBI single from Cole Delaughder in the bottom of the first Thursday (FCA scored on a sacrifice fly in the top half of the inning).
But it wasn’t enough. The Knights, seeded seventh in the Division IV Central District, returned to Upper Arlington on Saturday with the same confidence it took to knock off second-seeded Berne Union five days prior.
And they achieved a similar outcome.
FCA stormed back to take down third-seeded East Knox, 7-5, and claim its first district title. The Knights used a combination of lights-out hitting and spotless fielding to upset the Bulldogs, who had narrowly won both regular-season matchups between the teams.
“I’d like to have played a full game, but we had our chance,” East Knox head coach Randy Baugher said. “We got out of the fourth, up two runs – we had three innings to play, up two runs – and they put up a five-spot, and that’s the way she goes.”
East Knox finished the season 15-6 – third in the Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference behind Fredericktown and Centerburg.
The Bulldogs were ranked 12th in the state in the final Division IV coaches poll. They finished second in the district for the third time in five seasons, having knocked off Harvest Prep and Madison Christian en route to Saturday’s championship game.
“Our goal got to be, we didn’t want to lose another game in May,” Baugher said. “And it came down to the last game in May before we did, so we played some good ball down the stretch against good teams – Coshocton was pretty good, Big Walnut’s a big school – and we were playing pretty well.
“But I mean, it’s always tough to come back and win. It’s amazing what Fredericktown’s done, (having won) five in a row. It was our first one last year, it’s their first one this year. You never know when you’ll be back there again – maybe not. So you really have to take advantage of it when you’re there.”
HOW IT UNFOLDED: The comeback began Saturday in the top of the fifth.
FCA sophomore J.P. Vance reached base safely on a grounder to third. Then, sophomore Gabe Linn dropped a bunt to the pitcher that was overthrown to first, allowing Vance to scamper safely to third.
The Knights would narrow the gap two batters later. Junior Matthew Keener singled to left field with runners on the corners and one out, scoring Vance from third and making it 3-2. Then, after a hard-hit grounder from junior Andrew Keener was misplayed, loading the bases, senior Manny Schulz brought the tying run home on a hard-hit grounder to third.
Senior Justin Hammel gave FCA the lead moments later, rocketing a single to center field that scored Matthew Keener from third and kept the bases loaded.
Sophomore Jimmy Schmitz hammered a sacrifice fly to deep center field that scored Andrew Keener from third, and sophomore Gunner Hankison hit a line drive to center that plated Schulz from second, giving FCA a 6-3 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth.
East Knox would continue to battle. With runners on second and third and one out, Householder smacked a grounder down the first-base line, scoring both and narrowing the margin to 6-5.
But that’s as close as the Bulldogs would get. FCA would score again in the top of the sixth – this time on a line drive to center from Andrew Keener that brought Linn home from second – to extend the lead.
And Schmitz would shut the door in the bottom of the seventh. Coming in to pitch for Schulz, who tossed six innings of 10-hit baseball, Schmitz baited Delaughder into a two-out pop-up with runners on first and second, ending the game and eliciting a roar from FCA’s traveling fan base.
The Knights immediately crashed into a celebratory dog-pile near the mound after Schmitz recorded the final out, having broken through to regionals for the first time in program history.
Baugher attributed the loss to East Knox’s defensive struggles – the Bulldogs tallied three errors on Saturday, while FCA had one – and the Knights’ late-game playmaking abilities.
“We’ve had our problems (fielding) this year. I thought the carpet would actually help us some, but it didn’t. You know, three errors, we’ve gotta make plays like that. These guys, they make plays. We didn’t. …” Baugher said.
“We hit a lot of balls in the gap, but they’ve got two kids – their shortstop and their center fielder, those Keener boys. They’re brothers, (and) I voted for both of them for all-state because you saw it, they’re good. They really are good.”
LEAVING A LEGACY: East Knox will graduate two seniors from this year’s team: starting third baseman Peyton Lester and starting second baseman Shane Knepp.
Both played four years of varsity football, basketball and baseball. And both were part of an era that redefined what it meant to play for East Knox.
They went 37-8 on the football field, including a 4-0 record versus arch-rival Danville (after 12 straight losses). They collected two conference championships and went on two deep playoff runs – to the state semifinals in 2019 and the regional semifinals in 2021.
They helped rebuild the Bulldogs’ basketball program, eventually leading East Knox to its first district title this winter. And they took the baseball program to new heights, helping East Knox secure its first district title in 2021, while also advancing to the district championship game in 2019 and 2022 (the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Baugher had a hard time putting into words what the duo – and their class – have meant to East Knox.
“They’re leaders,” Baugher said. “They’ve been in a lot of high-pressure situations in other sports and baseball, too, and it’s always good to have them. I think the younger kids can kind of look up to them a little bit – this is how you do stuff in big games, and this is how you get ready.
“We’re really gonna miss ’em. You don’t get to places like this without having kids like that.”
Knepp said he hopes his class – and the success it had – will serve as an inspiration for the next generation of East Knox athletes.
“I hope they just saw how we could compete with whoever we were playing,” Knepp said Saturday. “We played a lot of big schools in sports, and I feel like we competed with all of them. We never really gave up on anything.”
Lester advised the next generation of Bulldogs to never lose sight of the bigger picture.
“Coming into high school, playing sports, everybody thinks they’re gonna have playing time. People say, ‘Senior year comes fast’ and ‘you’ve got four years.’ But it goes faster than what you’d think,” Lester said. “Just enjoy as much of it as you can. It’s not about the wins, but (it is about) having fun and making friends.”
The senior also praised his coaches and community for making the experience possible.
“East Knox is a special place,” Lester said. “I mean, from the outside, everybody sees it as a small farm school, but everybody that goes to East Knox knows it’s something special. It’s not like any other small school.”
Lester will begin training later this month to become a firefighter. Knepp will join the workforce. And Baugher’s club will look ahead to next spring, when seven of the team’s nine starters are slated to return.
East Knox will look to challenge for the KMAC crown and make another tournament run in 2023. The Bulldogs will seek their second district title in three seasons, after falling short this spring.
Baugher hopes his club will use this year’s district final loss as a learning experience – and as fuel for the road ahead.
“I think they’re gonna see that what you think’s gonna happen doesn’t always happen,” Baugher said. “This team (FCA) was like the sixth or seventh seed, and they beat the No. 2 seed the other night and then they beat the No. 3 seed today. So really, it’s a crapshoot when they’re doing these seeds.
“And their team has gotten better and better as the season’s gone along – I mean, we played ’em three times. We beat ’em twice. And at any level, kids or even adults, they sometimes think that, ‘Well, we’ve done it before, we’ll do it again. It’ll be fine.’ But it doesn’t work that way.
“You’ve gotta go out and beat ’em. You have to beat these guys; they don’t beat themselves. You saw it, they made plays. So I think that, as far as the younger kids, they’ll hopefully see that and know it’s never a given. Never a given.”
