Jacob King's walk-off hit lifts Germantown over Lewisburg to clinch 6A playoff series

MADISON — Germantown coach Brian Hardy had a simple message for Jacob King.

“Just make sure you touch first base when you get this hit,” he said.

Well, it worked.

With one out and the bases loaded, King hit a walk-off single to center to lift the Mavericks over Lewisburg 4-3 in Game 2 of their MHSAA Class 6A Baseball First Round Playoff series on Saturday night.

With the win, Germantown (17-9) swept the series and will face Hernando in the Second Round of the Class 6A playoffs next weekend.

“I told the guys to keep playing the next pitch and that’s what they did,” Hardy said. “We’ve had our fair share of battles with Lewisburg over the years and it’s good to be on the other side for once.”

Lewisburg jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead to begin the game as Jacob Hill hit a leadoff home run to left on the second pitch of the game and J.P. Allen scored on a groundout to for the Patriots.

Germantown trimmed the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Dinklelacker.

The Mavericks tied the game 2-2 in the second inning on a throwing error.

King gave Germantown a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth on a solo home run to left.

With two outs and runners on first and third base in the top of the seventh, Lewisburg’s J.P. Allen scored on a wild pitch for the Patriots to tie the game at 3-3.

After the leadoff batter for Germantown struck out in the bottom of the seventh, Cameron Hill and Cole Burton reached on back to back singles, Dinkelacker was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. King got a fast ball on a one-and-two pitch and smacked it to center field to win it.

King had two hits to lead the Mavericks offensively.

“Found a way to win and that was a heckuva high school baseball game,” Hardy said. “Conner has battled through so much with injuries and some stuff personally today and he’s finally healthy and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”

Ware, a Pearl River CC signee, tossed a complete game, giving up four hits, three runs, walked one and had 10 strikeouts.

“I haven’t been able to go the distance for a while, and it feels good to finally do that. Before the game my changeup and curve ball haven’t really been working, but thankfully today it started working,” Ware said. “Everything was there for me tonight to command the strike zone. The final inning is what baseball is all about and we found a way to pull through.”

Talon Haley took the loss on the mound for Lewisburg. The Patriots finish the year 23-5.

“We came out with a lot of fight, but Germantown was the better team,” said Lewisburg coach Rusty Cagle. “I’m proud of the guys for the way they fought throughout the game, but I wish we could’ve extended it one more day.”