By: Brian Hucks – June 12, 2013

Lexington “Finishes” 2013 with the AAAA State Championship for Kennedy

Lexington High School finished the 2013 campaign with a 28-5 record and captured the AAAA state championship. Our biggest inspiration and key to our success was Kennedy Branham, a rising freshman at Lexington who has a rare form of brain cancer.

In 2012 we embarked on the WinIt4Kennedy campaign – a mission to win the state championship for Kennedy. We fell just short, losing to Ashley Ridge in the lower state finals. This year, the players made it their mission to FinishIt4Kennedy and take home the state title in her honor. And that is what we did!

We won 20 of 24 games during the regular season facing some of the nation’s elite while maintaining the state’s top-ranking the entire season. We went 2-2 while playing three nationally ranked teams in the prestigious National High School Invitational hosted by USA Baseball in Cary, N.C. in March. Among the outcomes was a 2-1 win over second ranked Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) and a 1-0 setback to fourth ranked Mater Dei (Santa, Ana, Calif.). I feel the strong showings at the International Paper Classic (Georgetown) and the NHSI prepared us for the challenges of region and postseason play.

We won our second straight Region V title finishing 10-0 in league play again. It didn’t come easy playing in the state’s toughest region that includes White Knoll, South Aiken, Dutch Fork, North Augusta and Aiken. In 2012, White Knoll, South Aiken and Lexington were three of the four lower state playoff teams. This spring, Lexington and South Aiken faced off in the lower state finals. Region V has made up five of the last eight lower state playoff teams over the past two seasons.

We won the District V playoffs knocking off a hard-nosed Lugoff-Elgin team in the finals. Senior Zach Paquette (left) was the hero in the championship game. With the scored tied six-all in the bottom of the eighth on momentum swinging towards LE, Paquette singled to start the inning, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and stole home to secure the title. It was an amazing finish that left us five wins shy of our goal for Kennedy.

The lower state playoffs began with an 8-0 complete-game win over Beaufort by senior pitcher Elliot Lance. Lance had turned starting pitcher after twelve regular season appearances as our closer. He went 2-1 with a 0.86 ERA and a pair of complete-game shutouts in four postseason starts. 

We also had the daunting task of having to beat our region-rival South Aiken twice in the lower state after finishing 2-0 against them during the regular season. Senior Josh Reagan (right) beat South Aiken 4-1 in game two of the lower state playoffs. Four days later, Lance and Jordan Buster combined to beat the Thoroughbreds 2-1 in the lower state championship game that took eight innings. Senior Brandon Camp delivered the deciding blow. Nick Ciuffo led off the eighth inning with a walk and Camp lined a double down the leftfield line off righty Taylor Widener that scored Ciuffo and sent Lexington to its first state finals since 2003.

Bringing the state championship back to Lexington for Kennedy and this community was special. We battled a very talented and well-coached Blythewood squad in the finals that was very similar to us.  Coach Barry Mizzell and his Bengals were built on great pitching, solid defense, timely hitting and the ability to execute. It made for a great all-Columbia area finals. 

After both teams held serve at home, the final game of the best-of-three championship series was played before more than 6,200 fans at USC’s Carolina Stadium. Reagan pitched a complete-game, three-hitter and was in total control allowing only one hit after the first inning. Our defense was great and we jumped out to an early lead and Josh did the rest in a 4-0 win. It was the twelfth state championship appearance for Lexington, sixth title overall and our first for Kennedy.

Individually, we had a number of young men who stepped up. It was a complete 22-man roster where each player became an important part of our championship team. Reagan, Ciuffo, Lance along with centerfielder Ryan Brown and shortstop Dalton Addy earned state honors from a number of different publications. We went 14-0 at Wildcat Field (24-0 at home over the past two seasons) and are ranked fifth nationally by Perfect Game, sixth by MaxPreps, seventh by Collegiate Baseball and ninth by Baseball America.

This group of young men has been an absolute pleasure to coach! They are young men of character who are positive role models in the school and community. They are a group that was focused and goal driven, never flinching regardless of the opponent or the situation and, ultimately, we earned our biggest goal of them all, We FinishedIt4Kennedy!

————————————————————————————

2013 Lexington High School

Wildcats Varsity Baseball Roster

No.   Name …………………         Class            Pos.             B/T              Hgt            Wgt

  2    Dillon Headden………..          Jr.            RHP           R/R            5-9          175

  3    Ryan Brown……………          Jr.             OF            L/R            6-0          170

  4    Cody Smith……………         Sr.         SS/RHP         R/R           5-11          175

  5    Josh Reagan…………..          Sr            LHP            L/L            6-1          170

  6    Dalton Addy……………         Sr.          SS/2B          R/R            6-0          160

  9    Marshall Pratte………..          Jr.          3B/2B          R/R            6-0          150
10    Reece Burnett…………          Jr.          3B/RHP         R/R            6-1          170

12    David Barboza………..         Sr.             1B            R/R            6-0          180

13    Zach Paquette…………         Sr.           OF/C           L/R            6-1          200

14    Nick Ciuffo…………….        Sr.             C             L/R            6-1          210

15    Will Lacount……………         Jr.              C             R/R            6-1          180

18    Jordan Buster…………          Jr.          2B/RHP         R/R           5-11          165

19    Cole McMillan………….         Sr.         OF/LHP         R/L            6-1          180

20    Cameron Matthews…..          Jr.             OF            R/R           5-11          185

21    Brandon Camp………..         Sr.            OF            R/R            6-1          220

23    Bubba Bowers…………          Fr.            INF           R/R           5-10          165

24    Elliot Lance…………….        Sr.            RHP           R/R            6-1          170

25    Matt Godleski………….         Sr.            RHP           R/R            6-2          195

26    Chase Williamson……..         8th            LHP            L/L           5-11          190

27    Brice Kirven……………         Fr.         INF/RHP        R/R           5-10          175

28    Glenn Daniels………….         Sr.         RHP/1B         R/R            6-3          185

29    Michael Smoak………..         So.         RHP/OF         R/R           5-10          155

17    Brian Hucks – Head Coach

11    Banks Faulkner – Associate Head Coach/Pitching Coach

  7   John Berrian – Varsity Assistant Coach/Infielders

  8    Bryan Schroder – Varsity Assistant Coach/Catchers

30    D.T. Cromer – Varsity Assistant Coach/Hitting Coach

15    Randy Lucas – JV Head Coach/Outfielders

       Justin Scurry – JV Pitching Coach/Field Coordinator

       Herby Hucks – Director of Game Operations                               

       Adam Gantt – B Team Head Coach

       Robert Hendrix – B Team Pitching Coach

       Tony Ciuffo – Media Relations