With an eighth consecutive victory, earning a berth in the 4A Conference state tournament, the Flagstaff Eagles baseball team is on a run that's not only historic from a school perspective, but nearly unmatched at a state level as well.
Initially the No. 15 seed for the 4A play-in round, the Eagles shifted up to No. 14 for the official championship bracket. With three wins in five days -- coming against the No. 3 Prescott Badgers, No. 11 Deer Valley Skyhawks and now 7-3 on Wednesday over the No. 10 Saguaro Sabercats -- the Eagles have found themselves in the 4A semifinals for the second consecutive season.
However, no school within a similar division or conference has reached the state semifinals with a seed as low as the Eagles聽in recent memory. In its current spot in the 4A Conference or other 4A divisions over the past two decades, Flagstaff's No. 14 seed appears to be the lowest for any school within those classification to land in the semifinals.
As the state championship brackets have changed, adding rounds for double elimination or expanding the field, the 2011 Mingus Union Marauders and the 2009 Arcadia Titans of 4A D-II previously were the previous lowest-seeded semifinalists at No. 13. The most recent double-digit seed to reach the semifinals came in 2018, when No. 11 St. Mary's won two elimination games after a second-round loss to reach the 4A semifinals.
Flagstaff didn't need to survive an elimination game for its run to the semifinals, as it jumped out to a 7-0 lead against Saguaro at Tempe Diablo Stadium and never looked back.
The scoring began in the top of the second as the Eagles loaded the bases with one out.
Sophomore聽Jace Adams reached on an error, junior Brody Johnson on a walk and senior聽Connor Iniguez with a single before sophomore聽Aeneyas Clerry brought home the first game of the day by drawing a walk on a full count. Three pitches later,聽Christian Welker singled to right to bring home two more runs.
Flagstaff tacked on two more in the third inning as junior聽Cullen Callander opened the frame with a single and scored thanks to Adams' line drive triple to center. Senior Payne Lowry cashed in Adams two batters later with a single, driving the score up to 5-0.
As Flagstaff's offense struck early and often, its pitching staff dipped into its depth as both senior聽Connor Iniguez and junior聽Will Carpenter were ineligible due to pitch count restrictions. Adams opened the game on the mound, holding the Sabercats scoreless through the first three innings. He finished his day with two runs charged to him in 3 2/3 innings, allowing four hits, four walks and striking out one.
After Adams completed his first run through the order with a 1-2-3 third inning, Carpenter singled and came home on an error, with an RBI groundout by Johnson pushing the score to 7-0.
Two singles to open the fourth and a sacrifice fly brought in the Sabercats' first run of the game, with another single and two walks leading to the second run for Saguaro. With two on and no outs in the inning,聽Callander caught a runner attempting to steal third and effectively erased what would have been at least another run in the inning.
Sophomore聽Jayce Vesely聽entered in the fourth for Adams, finishing the inning with a flyout to left field.
The Sabercats' final run, and the last run to score in the game, came just two batters into the fifth as back-to-back singles coupled with an error cut the score down to 7-3.聽Vesely stranded a runner on third in the fifth, and junior Luke Holt did the same in the sixth after he entered the game.
Working around a leadoff single and a one-out walk, Holt closed out the victory by stranding runners on first and third on a strikeout. Vesely聽pitched 1 2/3 innings, and Holt closed out the victory with a scoreless 1 2/3 innings of work.
Callander finished the game 3 for 5 at the plate, with Carpenter reaching base four times thanks to his two hits and a pair of walks. Payne Lowry also went 2 for 4 in the game, adding one RBI.
The Eagles will face the winner of a rematch between No. 10 Saguaro and No. 2 ALA Queen Creek, scheduled for Saturday, at Tempe Diablo Stadium next Wednesday. A victory in the semifinals, which will also be double elimination, would send Flagstaff to its first baseball state championship game in history, according to the .