Chatham wins semifinal against Rappahannock, advances to title game

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RADFORD — Gavin Hylton chugged around the bases and kept looking up at Chatham coach Chad Anderson for the sign to keep running or stop at the base.

The catcher kept on hustling until he was stopped at third base.

“Triple, wow, I was out of breath and I thought I was going to pass out for a second,” Hylton said.

The all-state slugger’s RBI triple sparked a four-run fourth inning that allowed Chatham to pull away for a 14-3 victory over Rappahannock on Saturday in the Group A baseball semifinals held at Radford University.

Chatham (24-2) advances to the Group A state championship game for the first time since 2005 and will play Gate City (21-5), a 4-3 winner over Honaker (23-2), here at 10 a.m. today. The Cavaliers fell to Randolph-Henry 6-3 in the 2005 Group A state championship game.

The three-base hit by Hylton was a much-needed jolt of life for the Chatham offense after two scoreless innings allowed the Raiders (17-5) to close the lead to 5-3. Drew Kirks drove home Hylton with a single and Beau Cassada finished off the scoring with a two-run single, growing the lead to 9-3.

“We knew those were solid hitters and we knew we were going to have a tough time,” Rappahannock coach Larry Barker said. “I got three pretty good pitchers and those are not ordinary kids I was sending out there after them, but it seemed like wherever we put it, they put it in play.”

Every Chatham batter recorded a hit and the top of the lineup scored 10 of the team’s 13 runs. Kirks finished with four RBIs and Hylton added three RBIs and scored four runs.

Tyler Younger went 2-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored, Drew Arnold scored both times he reached base and Cassada finished with two hits and three RBIs.

The onslaught continued in the fifth as Hylton blasted a two-run homer to left, growing Chatham’s lead to 11-3.

“He missed in and I pulled it,” Hylton said of the first pitch of the at bat. “He did it again and I made him pay for it.”

Kirks got the scoring started in the first inning with a drive to the wall in deep right center for a bases-clearing triple. A throwing error on a Bray ground ball allowed Kirks to score and following a single and two outs, Cassada lined a single to left to give Chatham a 5-0 advantage.

“That was a big knock,” Kirks said of his triple. “I wasn’t trying to do too much. I saw one curveball and he hung the second and I just tried to meet it and it went, luckily.”

Rappahannock made things interesting with a three-run second inning. Joey Gordon drove in Brandon Oliff for the Raiders’ first run. Following an error, Andrew Davis hit a deep single to right, scoring Gordon and Jacob Roberts.

Chatham starter Matt Bray settled down after the second inning and scattered three hits over the next five innings. Bray went the distance, giving up one earned run on eight hits and striking out seven. He helped his own cause by going 2-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs.

“Give them credit, in the second inning, they made an adjustment and got to Bray,” Anderson said. “They took away his best pitch and he left a couple in the middle of the plate and they tattooed it. We had to make some adjustments and Bray executed and kind of kept them guessing.”

Jacob Roberts was the only Rappahannock batter to record multiple hits, finishing 2-for-3 with a run scored. Tyler Roberts was credited with the loss after the first-team All-Northern Neck District and second-team All-Region A pitcher gave up five earned runs on seven hits in three-plus innings of work.

“It’s awesome. We’ve played as many games as we can this year,” Anderson said. “Win, lose or draw, we made it and we’re going to go out there and see what happens.”