Faith Academy pitcher Christian Freeman (7), who won Friday’s crucial Game 2, holds the Blue Map as the Rams celebrate winning the Class 5A state championship Friday at Jim Case Stadium in Jacksonville. (Vasha Hunt/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
JACKSONVILLE — Faith Academy coach Matt Seymour could have been alarmed when his No. 1-ranked Rams were shut out for only the second time all season in the opener of the Class 5A state championship series against defending champion American Christian on Thursday.
But there was no urge to quash nausea or doubt because neither existed.
“We weren’t panicked,” Seymour said.
That’s because the Rams had lost back-to-back games only once this season and had proven they would not be an easy out by rallying past No. 4 Briarwood Christian after similarly losing the opener of the semifinal series the week before.
“We were put in the situation losing that first game last week for today,” Seymour said. “And it basically helped us. … “We felt things will go our way if we worked hard and honored God.”
Facing elimination with every breath, Christian Freeman steadily applied death by 96 cuts in Game 2, then Braydon Wright and Brodie Wilson supplied the thunderclaps in Game 3 as Faith swept the No. 3 Patriots 6-1 and 10-2 Friday at Jim Case Stadium to win the school’s third Blue Map.
The miserly Freeman didn’t let American Christian breathe in Friday’s opener, dispensing just seven hits, walking one and enjoying error-free defense in the 6-1 win.
Wright and Wilson then unloaded their barrels in the decisive third game, walloping three-run and two-run home runs in a five-run fourth inning — both on two-strike counts and both to left field — to zip up the Patriots’ body bag.
Faith quickly seized the momentum in the first inning of both games, taking leads of 4-0 and 3-1.
“We just couldn’t get anything going today,” American Christian coach Del Howell said. “We had our chances. First inning of the first game hurts giving up four runs and we should have been out of the inning. They jumped on us and I felt like all day you were fighting to get it back. They’re a good team. Every time we did something, they answered. … That’s the game of baseball, it’s why you love it and why you hate it.”
The Rams loved it Friday, committing only one error, cutting the Patriots’ hearts out with two double plays in both games to shatter potential rallies and forcing American Christian to leave the bases loaded once in each game, including in the sixth inning of Game 3, when freshman reliever Lathan Boddie came on for starter Grayson Finch with one out and Patriots on every base to get a flyout and a force out at second.
“He’s been there all year for us,” Seymour said of Boddie. “If I didn’t go to him, these guys would be all over me. When it gets time for Boddie to come in, I don’t hesitate. He’s got ice running through his veins.”
Faith finished 31-9 after winning 18 of its last 20 games. American Christian (37-12), which had lost back-to-back games only once this season, were 8-0 in the playoffs until they tangled with the Rams.
Seymour said Faith made no technical adjustments at the plate after managing just five hits in the 3-0 shutout loss to the Patriots Thursday.
“We just kept doing what we’ve done all year, just try to slow the game down and have good swings,” he said. “We couldn’t get the big hit when we needed to (in Game 1). We weren’t panicking. We’ve been in this situation before. We stayed true to our course and to our plan.”
The Rams got six of their 11 hits in the final game on two-strike counts and forced American Christian pitchers to repeatedly go deep into the count; 13 at-bats went at least four pitches in Game 2 and another 18 in Game 3. They also went three up and three down only twice, both in Game 2.
“Something big that we’ve talked about for the past two years is two-strike hitting,” Seymour said. “You can’t be productive offensively when you strike out, so we have really, really pushed as coaches that we’ve got to move the ball with two strikes. I told them, ‘Look, I’ve seen guys hit home runs with two strikes.’ A lot of times the pitcher’s going to provide the power for you anyway. You just want to get the barrel to the ball and shorten your swing up and try to move the ball and make something happen.”
Wright and Wilson made something happen with their home runs in Game 3 that gave Faith an 8-2 lead.
Wright’s three-run homer and Wilson’s two-run blow both came on 2-2 counts and both came after they had fouled off a pitch from B.J. Garth.
“I went up there just trying not to do too much,” Wright said. “I got to the two-strike count trying to put the ball in play. He gave me a pitch and I turned on it. He threw me a couple inside fastballs and I just wanted another one. Obviously, I turned around and got my hands out to the ball.”
Wilson slammed a hung slider over the wall three batters later.
“I got down to two strikes and was looking for something to do damage with just to move runners,” he said.
Seymour was grateful for the runs, although those and two more in the sixth were far more than the Rams needed.
“When you are playing a team like those guys, you never can have too many runs, so having that cushion was big for us, anything that can take some pressure off of you,” Seymour said.
Howell was downcast after the Patriots lost in the finals for the second time in three years.
“Expectations are high, so it’s a good thing,” said Howell, whose team beat Faith’s Mobile-area counterpart St. Paul’s in three games to win the 2025 state championship. “Our goal is not just to get here, it’s to win it. It’s very disappointing not to win it. Today wasn’t our day.”
Finch got the win, allowing two runs on three hits in 5.1 innings. Wright and Wilson each had two hits and three RBIs and Tucker Richardson two hits and two RBIs. Boddie threw 1.2 innings of scoreless, hitless relief.
Faith 6,
ACA 1
In Game 2, the Rams scored four runs in the first, helped by a fielding error by Patriots third baseman Caleb McAusland that let in a run and set up two more.
Freeman pitched scoreless baseball until the seventh but still finished a complete game.
“We didn’t play like we had to win the first inning,” Seymour said. “We just constantly did what we had to do. Got great pitching from (Freeman). He’s a warrior.”
Faith’s four-run first featured RBI singles from Tucker Richardson and Collin Hall, the series MVP who hit .500 (4 of 8) and drove in three runs in the three games.
“Everything was really working for me,” Freeman said. “I just had to throw it in the zone. I knew I was just letting them hit it. I knew my defense would work behind me.”
It worked particularly well on a spectacular double play in the sixth inning when second baseman Carlos Ortiz went behind second base to snare Clayton Rice’s grounder, then backhanded the ball to Wright, who stepped on the bag, then threw out Rice at first.
“When I get the opportunity to have some fun, of course I can do it,” Ortiz said. “They had the momentum and then you just stop that, so they don’t have anything.”
ACA 3,
Faith 0
In Thursday’s opener in Oxford, Wilson took the loss despite giving up only three hits in six innings.
The Patriots scored all three runs in the third on McAusland’s sacrifice fly and Hudson McComb’s two-run double.
