Despite dropping the first game of the three-game series, Fuquay-Varina came back to capture the 2021 4A baseball state championship on Saturday with a resounding 12-1 victory.
Upon catching the last flyout, the team cleared its dugout and rushed to the mound. The players tossed their caps into the air and congratulated each other on the field.
“It’s great, I’m happy as crap for them,” head coach Zach Boraski said. “I’m really excited for them.”
Senior catcher Ryan McCrystal was voted the MVP of the series.
“It’s what you work for your whole life,” McCrystal said. “Obviously, winning the state championship is much more important, celebrating with the team’s way more important. But anytime you get an accolade like that, it’s pretty good for me.”
He went on to give additional credit to his brother after the game, as well.
“Biggest supporter since day one,” McCrystal said. “Never misses a game. Love that kid to death.”
This state championship was the second in three seasons for the Bengals, with their last title coming in 2018. The 2020 postseason was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like the previous game, Fuquay-Varina’s crowd was electric, seemingly cheering after every hit, strikeout and, of course, run scored.
McCrystal had a triple early in the first inning, causing the crowd to erupt with shouting and applause.
The game was decided early on, as the Bengals went up 5-0 entering the bottom of the second inning before a rain delay stopped play.
But a 1-hour and 15-minute break could not stop Fuquay-Varina and neither could the Raiders.
“They’re really old,” Boraski said of his veteran team. “Fourteen seniors, I expect that out of them. That’s what we talk about. Being old has been good for us.”
The Bengals kept Reagan scoreless and scored another run in the top of the third to go up 6-0. Sophomore outfielder Brady Nathison scored the first run after the delay after an RBI single from senior infielder Adam Joseph.
“We were just saying keep the energy,” McCrystal said. “We just competed at the highest level after the rain delay, too. Nothing’s changed, it’s still baseball.”
Reagan struggled to stop the onslaught, using five pitchers in the game. There were no answers for Fuquay-Varina, as the team went up by as many as nine runs before Reagan got on the board.
Fuquay-Varina outhit Reagan in the series finale with a 15-6 advantage.
The win was punctuated by a three-run seventh inning, capped off by an Evan Giordano RBI to score Jackson Humphries.
This championship victory followed a two-win Saturday for the Bengals. Despite dropping the first game against Reagan with Carter Boyd’s no-hitter performance, Boraski delivered a winning message to his team.
“He said it’s a three-game series for a reason. If they wanted to make a one-game championship, there would be a lot of different state champions,” McCrystal said. “Whether they threw another great arm today, I feel like we would have been able to handle it just as well.”
Fuquay-Varina finished the season 16-4, entering the championship series on a seven-game winning streak. It began the tournament as a No. 4 seed. The championship plaque was brought onto the field before the award ceremony, in which both teams shook hands and stood on the field to receive their medals.