Starting pitcher Cole Draper (30) and the Farragut Admirals faced the Hardin Valley Hawks in the TSSAA Class 4A state championship at Reese Smith Jr. Field on Friday, May 26, 2023, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Farragut won 6-0. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — Cole Draper, a sophomore on the Farragut High School baseball team got a text Friday morning from head coach Matt Buckner, and that text got right to the point.
Draper would be starting the TSSAA Class 4A State Championship Game against district-foe Hardin Valley Academy.
To most underclassman, that information might make their knees wobble for a spell.
Draper fed off it.
“I was like, ‘Man — let’s get after it,” recalled Draper. “I’m ready for this.”
And so he was.
Draper pitched a complete-game, three-hitter, and Farragut’s offense and defense gave him loads of support Friday night in a 6-0 win over HVA at MTSU’s Reese Smith Field.
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The Admirals (37-8) repeated as Class 4A state champions and won their program’s 12th overall, which ranks second in TSSAA history and is one short of matching Brentwood Academy’s 13.
Farragut bagged 11 hits against HVA (39-7). Not one member, 1-9, in Farragut’s lineup was without a hit. Landis Davila went 2 for 3 with two RBIs, and Brennon Seigler and Jett Johnston each had two RBIs.
Draper, a shortstop by trade whose pitching role with the team evolved throughout the season, walked just one batter Friday and struck out four.
“(Draper) just has the right demeanor for it. I felt good about it. Our whole coaching staff, that was our decision. We never even considered starting anyone else. He was going to be the guy,” said Farragut coach Matt Buckner. “We had two of our better guys in relief ready today, too, if we needed them.
“I’m not sure I expected (Draper) to go CG (complete game). But, man, he was awesome. He’s got an electric fastball, and it runs heavy on you. And then he drops that slider on you. And he’s pretty difficult to hit. And we played such great defense. We were all over the field, defensively. Just played fantastic defense.”
But offensively, Farragut struck first and struck hard.
Davila, a powerful junior lefty, jumpstarted it all. He hit a deep shot off Colton Denton to left-center in the gap for a double. Texas A&M signee Jett Johnson later singled in two runs in a bases-loaded situation. Tennessee commitment Brennon Seigler capped the big inning with a sac fly to center for an RBI. Seigler added an RBI-double in the fifth.
Davila drove in the fourth run in the bottom of the second, when his rip down the right-field line bounced off the first-base bag and bounded into the outfield. That scored Ellis Gleed.
Then Davila flashed his defensive prowess.
Davila raced up toward shallow right and dove forward to make a catch and end Hardin Valley’s third inning.
In the fifth, with the Hawks having runners on first and third, HVA second baseman Jaxon Jones roped a ball deep down the right-field line. Davila gave serious chase and made a sliding effort to track it down and catch it — ending the inning and threat.
“He’s really grown as a player,” Buckner said of Davila. “He’s got a bright future. You look at him an he looks like a professional athlete already.
“He’s a special, special athlete — able to do things that other people can’t dream about doing.”
Hardin Valley, which beat Farragut in the 2015 state championship game, entered today’s matchup having won three of four meetings over the Admirals during the 2023 season — including a win over Farragut in the District 4-4A Championship.
But the Hawks were playing their sixth game of the week. Farragut was playing just its fourth, as the Admirals didn’t have to go through the loser’s bracket in its half of the 4A tournament.
That likely gave Farragut an advantage physically and with its pitching rotation. HVA started sophomore Colton Denton, who wound up going five innings.
“(Colton) is a competitor. He’s as big of a competitor as I’ve ever seen,” said HVA coach Tyler Roach.
HVA made its second-ever, title-game appearance Friday. Roach said he prepared his players for this meeting with Farragut the same way they had all year — to be loose and not put pressure on themselves. To just go out and play.
And though the outcome didn’t go the Hawks’ way, perhaps this season could be a springboard for the program to make subsequent appearance at Spring Fling.
“We’ll just keep chugging away and keep fighting and keep fighting to get here,” Roach said. Take it pitch by pitch and see what happens.”