Union County Blanks Cottondale To Reach State Championship

The Union County Tigers got exactly what they were expecting in the state semifinal, and they were ready for it. Behind another superb start from ace Erick Lasseter and just enough offense, Union County earned a 2-0 victory over the Cottondale Hornets in Wednesday’s Rural Class state semifinal, at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers.

The Tigers (23-7) advance to Thursday’s title game in search of their second state championship in program history. They will square off against a familiar opponent in the Trenton Tigers, who also advanced with an 8-0 shutout over the Holmes County Blue Devils in Wednesday’s other Rural Semifinal.

“It’s kind of what I expected. Once you get down here, you don’t see a lot of blowouts in the Final Four,” Union County Manager Jiwan James said. “I was here in 2019 with Williston and it was kind of the same thing; you have a lot of tight games. You don’t have room for error. As long as guys fill it up and play defense, it’s the kind of ball games that I expect.”

Hits were at a premium, and runs even more so. Union County pushed across a couple of runs in the bottom of the second, and their pitcher took care of the rest.

“It was a great game on both sides. Both pitchers filled it up and got a lot of quick outs,” James said. “Our starting pitcher, Erick Lasseter, did exactly what we talked about. Me and Coach Caleb Polk were saying that we watched a little bit of film on Cottondale, and they like to be aggressive early. Both of us were saying that we might be able to get a CG in under 75 pitches. Just the way he pitched all season; he fills it up. So it played exactly how we thought it would. There were a lot of quick outs, and we had a feeling he would go a complete game.”

Those coach predictions proved incredible accurate, as Lasseter went the distance for the complete-game shutout, and he only needed 70 pitches to do so. The right-hander allowed just three hits in seven scoreless innings. He did not issue any walks, and had three strikeouts.

“All year, I’ve thrown strikes. I’m not a guy who is going to blow it by you,” Lasseter said. “I’m going to fill the zone and get ground balls, and I have a really good defense behind me. So if I’m on the mound and I make contact, I know I’ve got a guy there.”

The defense proved up to the task, coming up with numerous plays to back Lasseter’s efforts on the bump. Third baseman Nate Robinson delivered several big plays, including a big stop and putout that halted a rally in the third after Connor Barton reached with a single for the Hornets’ first base hit.

“Any time Erick is on the mound all season, I feel like we’ve got a good chance to win. He’s been our guy in the bigger games,” Robinson said. “I feel like our identity throughout the season more so has been offense over defense, but good teams find ways to win. Today, they had a good arm out there keeping us off balance, but our defense kept us in the game. We just found a way to win.”

The Tigers only managed two hits against Cottondale ace Lane Johnson, who also went the distance. Catcher Mason Moore actually connected for both hits to have a huge impact at the plate. With the best view in the house from the backstop, Moore did an excellent job of working with his pitcher and leading the defense, and also when it was his turn to swing.

“I was just seeing the pitcher well,” Moore said. “It’s huge playing in a stadium like this, it’s a big moment. You get to see everything and you’ve got to try to make the moment as small as it can be. You can’t make it bigger than it is. But it’s always a good time behind the plate, getting to see the field.”

The first two batters both walked to put some ducks on the pond for Moore in the bottom of the second inning. Lasseter walked and was replaced by courtesy-runner Tristan George, and Evan Christmas worked the count full and also drew a free pass on the payout pitch. Jasen Sullivan dropped down a sacrifice bunt that advanced both runners into scoring position, and Moore delivered with a liner into the left field corner for a two-RBI single.

“Mason came up and he got that two-RBI single, and after that I knew that I got my boys,” Lasseter said. “I’ve been telling my boys all year to just give me a couple of runs and I got you, and that’s what I did. They got me and I got them.”

The formula for success continued working. Robinson made another big play to strand a base runner again in the fourth, and Lasseter retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth innings.

Tyler Jones led off the seventh with an infield single to give Cottondale one final chance at a comeback. But Lasseter snared a liner right back at him, and then threw to first base to pick off the runner for a double play that stifled all the momentum and had the Tigers one final out away from victory.

“It came at me and I just reacted,” Lasseter said. “I didn’t even know how to react; I almost threw it away because I was just shocked that I caught the ball. I didn’t even know that I had it in my glove.”

A grounder to first base on the very next pitch was easily fielded for the final out.

“Erick Lasseter had it under control, so I never really got too nervous about it. He had it under control,” Coach James said.

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