They had won 28 straight, scored 71 runs in eight postseason games, had some late-game heroics to get past the state quarterfinals, and looked destined to match the 2002 Madison team’s perfect 29-0 season.
Then South County ran into Great Bridge in the 2011 Group AAA state championship game. Namely, the Stallions ran into Connor Jones, the current ace at the University of Virginia who is projected as a first-round pick in next month’s Major League Baseball Draft.
South County dominated the regular season five years ago, even winning the Mingo Bay Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C., over Spring Break. They swept four games from a Lake Braddock team that also made the state tournament, beating the Bruins twice in the regular season, then in the Patriot District and Northern Region championship games.
Known for their big innings and an offense the hit 56 home runs, the Stallions had the perfect mix of talent, confidence and luck to win championships, and an experienced coach in Mark Luther to guide the ship. Pitcher and shortstop Tyler Frazier would go on to play at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, catcher Michael Perez at Old Dominion University, third baseman Luke Bondurant at Pitt Community College, and pitcher Evan Beal at the University of South Carolina before being drafted two years ago by the Kansas City Royals. Those four, along with outfielder Andrew Rector, were all-region selections.
Perez’ two-run, bases-loaded walk-off double gave South County a 12-11 win over Nansemond River in the state quarterfinals after Beal had surrendered a two-run homer in the top of the seventh. In the semifinals, Frazier’s Grand Slam help the Stallions jump to an 11-0 lead against James River, and South County held on for a 13-8 win despite a late rally by the Rapids.
In the final, Frazier was unavailable to pitch because of a shoulder injury, and Great Bridge scored in each of the first three innings to take a 5-0 lead on starter Jake Josephs, who would eventually settle down and retire 10 straight batters and toss a complete game. The Stallions, trailing 5-2 in the sixth, chased Connor Jones, then a sophomore, with one out, and Bondurant scored on a wild pitch by reliever Cooper Jones. But the rally would end there, as would the Stallions’ dream of a perfect season.
Connor Jones had used his changeup to keep South County off-balance, keeping the Stallions under five runs for just the sixth time that season.
“We just didn’t kind of mentally make the change like we’ve been doing all year,” Luther told The Washington Post after the game. “[Connor Jones] kept dumping [change-ups] in and we kept beating them into the ground.”
Two years later, Jones would come on to pitch the final 2.1 innings in an 8-3 state semifinal win over Lake Braddock, ending the Bruins’ run at back-to-back state titles while continuing to torment area teams. Great Bridge would lose in the state final to Hanover, 2-1, that year.
“I just felt like we were trying a little too hard, trying to do too much with the ball,” Bondurant told Patch.com after the 2011 final. “It just didn’t come out the way we wanted it to.”
Added Luther, also to Patch.com: “The whole day, we couldn’t put things together and get the clutch hit at the right time … We should have been ready to go. We just didn’t have it, or they were a little bit better today.”
Photo of Evan Beal courtesy of South County baseball
