NICEVILLE — All postseason, Niceville baseball hasn’t faced a must-win game or a crowd outside The Hill.
That’ll all change Saturday.
A day after being silenced by Jake Morvay in a 1-0 loss on The Hill, second-seeded Lincoln busted out for four runs in the first inning en route to a 5-3 win over the top-seeded Eagles to force a decisive Game 3 for the Region 1-5A championship.
The implications of a road victory could not be any bigger for the Eagles, who haven’t won a region championship since 2008. To be fair, though, the Eagles winning their first four games of the postseason is alone monumental considering their region quarterfinal and semifinal series wins marked their first postseason victories in 17 years.
But this is the No. 1 seeded Eagles, 28-5 and ranked tops in all of 5A. They’ll have to remind themselves of that and their 2-1 record against Lincoln this season as they face their first dose of adversity — and first road trip — Saturday. And they’ll have to shake off a first inning they’d like to forget ever happened.
While Reilly Six allowed just two hits over six frames, one came after three walks in the top of the first frame to plate two. Paired with a passed ball and RBI fielder’s choice, Lincoln led 4-0 off only one hit.
Niceville would answer back in front of a standing-room-only crowd, scratching for three runs in the third inning after Landon Hawkins walked with one out, CJ Bolden singled, Deacon Avery laced an RBI double to left-center, Hunter Tarchalski singled in a run to right and Jackson Marquardt delivered a sacrifice fly to right.
But Chase Fuller, an FSU sophomore commit, relieved starter TJ Harley in the fifth frame and stranded two hits and two walks over three scoreless innings for the save as Lincoln tacked on an insurance run in the seventh.
Now the Eagles and Trojans are headed back to Tallahassee for a 7 p.m. first pitch Saturday, the winner advancing to the Final 4 and the loser facing question marks of what could’ve been.
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: All tied up: Niceville, Lincoln baseball set to face off Saturday for Region 1-5A title
Reporting by Seth Stringer, Northwest Florida Daily News / Northwest Florida Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
