Spotsylvania High School baseball coach Travis Payne knew his team would have to play mistake-free to beat perennial powerhouse Hanover in Tuesday’s Region 4B semifinal matchup.
The Knights weren’t quite up to the challenge.
The visiting Hawks combined aggressive base-running and swing-and-miss pitching with a pair of crucial Spotsylvania errors to pull out a 5-3 victory in front of a standing room-only crowd.
Hanover (16-3), the region’s No. 4 seed, advances to play at second-seeded Atlee (17-2) for the regional championship on Thursday. Both squads will also play in next week’s Class 4 state tournament, which is familiar territory. Atlee won the state title last season, while Hanover won back-to-back crowns in 2022 and ’23 and has claimed five state titles since 2013.
“[Hanover] did the little things a little bit better than we did,” Payne said. “But they’re a very good team, so we knew we were going to have our hands full.”
The Hawks scored runs in a variety of ways, but the common denominator was an aggressive approach on the base paths. Hanover stole six bases, and the Hawks’ proclivity for taking the extra base caught the Knights (19-3) off guard on multiple occasions.
Leading 1-0 in the top of the second inning, Jackson Bates laid down a bunt with teammate Gabe Corey on first base. As the Knights’ Jay Siefker fielded the ball and flipped it to first baseman Josh Perez, Corey rounded second and headed for third. Perez threw wildly to third, and the ball caromed away from Nathan Johnson, allowing Corey to score for a 2-0 Hanover advantage.
Members of the Hanover baseball team look on eagerly during Tuesday’s Region 4B semifinal game at Spotsylvania.(Photo by Devin Payne)
In the third, Brady Elrod singled, stole second and advanced to third on a dropped third strike. Two batters later, Elrod scored on a single by Danny Kilgore, making it 3-0.
Spotsy managed to push across three runs to tie the score in the fourth, courtesy of some uncharacteristic sloppiness by the Hawks.
Siefker led off the frame with a walk, and Landen Fisher reached base on a dropped third strike. Wyatt Cox followed with an infield single, and then Siefker and Fisher scored on a pair of passed balls. Cox eventually crossed the plate to knot things up on an opposite-field single by Austin Harris.
Hanover didn’t deviate from the approach that it used to build the early lead, however. Elrod, who went 2-for-2 with a walk and swiped five bags by himself, started off the fifth by reaching base after he was hit by pitch. He promptly stole second, tagged up and moved to third on a flyout to centerfield by Gabe Jenkins, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Grayson Reece.
In the sixth, the Hawks tacked on another run when pinch runner A.J. Kinard broke for third on a groundball by Corey. Perez misfired across the diamond again, and Kinard raced home to make it 5-3.
“Base-running is a big part of our offense,” said Elrod, a junior catcher. “We steal bases and take the extra base every chance we can get. Until somebody can prove us wrong that we can’t do that, we’re going to keep doing it until they stop it.”
Payne said the Hawks’ speed and aggressive base-running was something the Knights hadn’t seen this year.
“We didn’t really see that in the [Battlefield District],” he said. “Hanover really sped us up, and there were times when we needed to take a deep breath and settle down, and we didn’t do that.”
Hanover’s Will Hodges and Ashton Kemp combined to hold Spotsy to four hits while striking out 12. Hodges allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits while striking out six and walking three over 3 1/3 innings, and Kemp struck out six and walked two in 3 2/3 innings of hitless relief.
“Will didn’t have his best stuff, but he still left us in a position to win the game,” Hawks head coach Joe Meador said. “Ashton came in afterwards and did a phenomenal job closing things out.”
Payne reflected on his team’s season and what lies ahead after the final out.
“This was the best team we’ve had since we won the [Class 3] state title in 2018,” he said. “And they were a great group to coach, and they deserved everything they accomplished this season. We only lose two seniors, so the guys coming back know that the opportunity to do something really special is in front of them.”
Hanover 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 — 5 6 0
Spotsylvania 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 — 3 4 2
Will Hodges, ASHTON KEMP (4) and Brady Elrod. JAY SIEFKER, Nathan Johnson (5) and Austin Harris.
