Chatham closes Gate City, 10-4, in state baseball championship

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RADFORD — Sitting on a plastic seat at Radford University four years ago, Chad Anderson learned a lesson that he would pass on to his players who he had just spent one season coaching at the junior varsity level.

Never take a lead for granted and keep piling on the runs, even when the lead seems secure. Chatham’s 2005 team learned the hard way in a loss to Randolph-Henry in the Group A state championship game.

Anderson etched that message into his player’s minds.

The Chatham offensive parade that carried it to Dogwood District and Region B titles continued in the Group A state championship game, as the Cavaliers pounded out yet another 10 runs and won the school’s second state title with a 10-4 victory over Gate City on Sunday at Radford University.

It was the sixth time in seven games this postseason that Chatham (25-2) had scored double-digit runs

“All of them played for me as freshmen and we went through growing pains together,” Anderson said. “It was my first year as coach at the varsity level and seeing these kids leave on this note is unrea.

“The power’s been there all year. The guys have some pop in the bat. What they’ve done this year — and throughout their career(s) — has been unbelievable.

Three of the six players who have been with Anderson since eighth grade — Gavin Hylton, Drew Kirks and Matt Bray — hit towering home runs to left field and were responsible for driving in eight of the team’s 10 runs.

Kirks followed up Bray’s solid pitching performance in the semifinals against Rappahannock with a stellar outing in the state championship game. The lefty struck out 13 batters, scattered eight hits and did not allow an earned run.

“He was on. He missed a couple of times, but that’s the best I’ve ever seen him pitch in my life,” Hylton said.

In the previous two seasons, Chatham had fallen to Strasburg and Luray in the Region B semifinals by not scoring many runs or catching any breaks.

This year was different. Not so much in the fact that the ball bounced the Cavaliers’ way, but that the offense ensured that those plays would not result in losses. If the game ball was not being fished out of the woods behind Chatham’s baseball field, it was being batted around the diamond against opposing pitchers.

For every run scored, the pitching came through and made it stand up. Kirks’ performance on Sunday was another example of why Chatham was not one-dimensional. The bats came alive for him — including his own with a two-run home run to the opposite field that stretched the lead to 5-2 in the third inning.

Over the next three innings, Kirks struck out six Gate City (21-6) batters and kept the Blue Devils off the scoreboard while the Cavaliers put five more runs on the board.

Gate City starting pitcher Jordan Estepp got off to the same start Rappahannock pitcher Tyler Roberts had just the day before — giving up a multi-base hit to Chatham to open the flood gates. This time, instead of a triple, Hylton hit Estepp’s pitch about a mile high and well over the left field wall, giving the Cavaliers a 3-0 lead.

“We knew they all could hit. If you can hit a curveball 370 feet, you’re going to win a lot of ball games,” said Gate City interim coach Robbie Perry, who took over midway through the season after Blue Devils coach Shannon Carter, who was suspended from his coaching duties after he was arrested on April 30 on charges of domestic assault, disorderly conduct and public intoxication.

For those keeping tally, that is 16 home runs Hylton has smashed this season after tying the Virginia High School League record with 18 in one season a year ago. His 49 career home runs are the most by one player according to the VHSL record book.

While the big sticks get most of the credit, the No. 9 hitter for Chatham certainly had quite a weekend. Beau Cassada rattled off two triples and added a run and RBI — one day after driving in three runs for the Cavaliers.

“Most guys think when you get to the bottom of the order, ‘Give them fastballs, feed them fastballs,’” Cassada said. “Well, if you feed us a fastball at the bottom of the order, it’s over. Our batting order is great and that helped us win.”

Even when Gate City added two runs in the top of the seventh, the Cavaliers remained ahead by six runs and like it was said at every game, it would take a whole lot of runs to beat this team, this year.

“I’m going to miss this team right here. This is the best team I’ve ever played on and best team I’ve ever seen,” Kirks said. “The way we had our act together is completely amazing. It’s unreal, these guys are like my brothers and I love every one of them.”