Heath defeats Keller 4-3 in “dog fight” for 6A state championship

 admin  |    Jun 13th, 2021

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For the first time since 2017, there’s a new top team in 6A baseball.

The Rockwall-Heath Hawks (38-11-1) defeated the Keller Indians (35-8) in a down-to-the-wire 4-3 game to win the state championship. Senior second baseman/pitcher Caden Fiveash was named the Most Valuable Player. He pitched two shutout innings, allowing two hits with three strikeouts and one walk.

Fiveash helped himself at the plate and drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth with a sacrifice fly.

“Right there, I thought I just need one run to help myself out and I saw they were playing infield in. He wasn’t throwing me fastballs, he was throwing me that breaking ball, so I just tried my best to get under it, get a deep fly ball and as you know, I got it,” Fiveash said.

“I was at the very bottom (of the dog pile), and I’m not a guy for tight spaces, but that was worth every single last breath I had,” he added.

Heath took the first lead of the contest in the bottom of the first. Jett Williams and Kevin Bazzell knocked consecutive singles to follow up Karson Krowka’s leadoff walk. Bazzell’s single to left drove in the first run of the game. Williams touched home to make it 2-0 Hawks on a Keller throwing error.

Keller got one back in the top of the second. Senior centerfielder/pitcher Braden Davis sent a leadoff single to left, stole second, and then advanced to third and home behind wild pitches.

The Indians took a 3-2 lead in the third behind a two-run frame. Griffin Barton recorded a RBI with his single up the middle that scored Trey Orman, who reached on a throwing error by Heath’s shortstop. Mike Dattalo’s double to right-center scored Barton. Davis knocked his second hit of the game, this one a double, but was left stranded.

The Hawks didn’t take long to tie the game at 3-3. Bazzell tabbed his second RBI of the contest with a sacrifice fly to score Krowka, who was walked for the second time to start the bottom of the third.

Junior Jonny Lowe got the start on the bump for Heath and pitched five innings, allowing three runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and five walks. Fiveash took over in relief in the sixth following a leadoff walk and promptly struck out the side to get out of the inning.

“(Fiveash is) such a clutch player, such a gritty player. He didn’t have his best fastball today, and I knew that right away. He’s normally a mid- to upper-80’s guy, but he just gutted it out and grinded and did what he’s done his whole career here at Heath,” Hawks coach Greg Harvey said. “(Lowe’s) stuff is really good and he’s a competitor. I knew that the moment wouldn’t get to him.”

Keller upped the intensity in the seventh with the game on the line. Aidan Connors led off the inning with a double. Gray Rowlett hit into a fielder’s choice that erased Connors and put Rowlett on second after a 1-5-6-1 putout as Connors was caught in a rundown heading to third.

After a popout to center, Davis was intentionally walked, putting two Indians on base with two outs. Fiveash induced a fly ball to left-center reeled in by centerfielder Alex Stowers to seal the victory.

“Exhilaration. I’m just so proud, so incredibly proud of what we’ve done as a team here,” Harvey said. “That game right there was just a dog fight the whole time. We didn’t know ‘til the very last pitch it was going to happen. There aren’t words to describe it. I’m so happy, so fortunate to be here, so blessed to have this team and to be in the position that I’m in to coach this team. Just couldn’t be more proud of a team than I am right now.”

This is the second state championship in program history for the Heath Hawks. Harvey said the magnitude of being on top of the baseball world hadn’t fully set in yet during postgame.

“I just kept saying to them, ‘We did it again. We did it again.’ It’ll hit me at some point, but right now the excitement at the whole thing is just off the charts,” Harvey said. “Very good team we just played. Best team we’ve played all year. That game could’ve gone either way, we were just fortunate to get it done.”

Fiveash said he and his teammates have been dreaming about bringing a state title to Heath since they were in seventh grade, and finally achieving it is something he won’t soon forget.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. Man, it’s surreal,” Fiveash said. “We live for these moments. My father tells me, ‘You work for these moments,’ and right then, I thought, ‘I deserve to be in this moment.’”