For the first time since the 2021 season, the Gainesville area will have a baseball state champion.
That much is guaranteed before first pitch of the FHSAA Rural State Championship Game because it’s an all-local matchup.
Trenton will face Union County in a battle between the winners of Region 4 and 3 and the top two-ranked teams in the class.
It was a matchup that was scheduled to transpire April 8, but rain canceled it.
Newberry, in 2021, then a member of Rural Class, was the last local team to win it all. The last all-local matchup came two years before when Williston knocked off Chiefland.
Both the Union County Fightin’ Tigers and the Trenton Tigers enter Thursday’s battle with high confidence. Trenton has rolled through every team it faced in the postseason. It’s won all five postseason games by an average of nearly nine runs.
In the state semifinal 8-0 win over Holmes County, Mason VunCannon delivered a complete-game three hit shutout. At 23-5, TMHS is in the Final Four for the third year in a row but in the title game for the first time. The Tigers are seeking their third state title to go with 2013 and 2017.
Union County hasn’t won a state title since 2012, but it carries around some confidence of its own, and deservedly so.
Two of the Fightin’ Tigers’ wins in the region playoffs came by one run, but they needed to advance past powerhouse Lafayette to reach this point. UCHS still hasn’t lost a playoff game, and Erick Lasseter dominated in the state semifinals with a three-hit shutout vs. Cottondale.
Follow for live updates from Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers.
FHSAA Rural Baseball State Championship live updates
This section will be updated.
Noah Ram covers Florida Gators athletics and Gainesville-area high school sports for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at nram@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Noah_ram1 and on Instagram @Ramreporter.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Trenton baseball vs Union County FHSAA Rural State Championship game live updates
Reporting by Noah Ram, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
