Florida baseball state semifinals recap: Class 1A state final set between Chipley, Lafayette

The Class 1A state final will be played today at 4 p.m.

The Florida High School Athletic Association’s (FHSAA) began hosting the state baseball championships down at Lee County Sports Complex in Fort Myers, with Wednesday kicking things off. Things started off with the Class 1A state semifinals between Chipley-Newberry and Lafayette-Holmes County. Below is the recaps from the two games played on Wednesday. 

Chipley 1, Newberry 0

Seven innings was not enough to decide the state semifinal between the Tigers and Panthers on Wednesday afternoon. The two teams needed every bit of eight innings to decide the affair and Chipley (21-7) will be advancing to today’s Class 1A state championship game. 

Chipley pitcher Neal Adams went just over seven innings, allowed six hits and fanned nine batters in a 1-0 win over Newberry (16-9). The game’s only run scored was in the top end of the eighth inning when catcher David Carley drove in junior Cade Culbreth for what eventually was the go-ahead for the win. 

Despite being on the losing end, Newberry pitcher Braxton Brady was solid. Brady had two hits at the plate and went seven innings, allowed seven hits and landed six strikeouts. 

Lafayette 9, Holmes County 6 

It would come down to 2 big innings by the Hornets that helped catapult Lafayette into today’s Class 1A state title game. The Hornets scored four runs in the first and third innings, en route to the victory over the Blue Devils (11-19). 

Lafayette pitcher Matthew Jenkins had a solid outing for the Hornets in the victory. Jenkins pitched 4.2 innings, allowing just one hit, one earned run and eight strikeouts. The senior also did it at the plate, driving in two runs on one hit. 

In the loss, Holmes County pitcher Landon Lumpkin went four innings, yielded two hits, one run and struck out six batters. 

Class 1A state championship game 

Chipley (21-7) vs. Lafayette (22-4), 4 p.m. 

Andy Villamarzo can be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Villamarzo.