The Walton Raiders, with their playoff tradition of bleached white hair, swept the Lowndes Vikings at Coolray Field to win their first state title since 2016 and fourth in program history.
The Raiders controlled Game 1 as they posted a batting average of .370 and also got a complete game from senior Hyland Brown who was excellent this season after missing all of last season while recovering from labrum surgery.
Brown received first team All-Region for Region 5-6A after posting a 2.60 ERA and 4-1 record in the regular season. In Game 1 he only allowed three hits and forced nine flyouts and seven groundouts while striking out three batters.
“This season was a little extra special for me”, Brown said. “Just getting to play with my guys one last time, I know a lot of people might not get their senior season.”
Walker Killimett, Logan Wideman, Parker Dastou, William Crowell, Wyatt Reuter, and Todd Haley all recorded an RBI in the 7-0 win in the first game.
Game 2 first saw Lowndes jump out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but not before big hits from Killimett, Dastou, Matthew Haber, Reuter, and Haley brought home six runs in the bottom half of the first.
On the mound, Josh Segal, in 3 ⅔ innings of work for the Raiders, allowed five hits and three earned runs and walked two batters and struck out two.
Ahren Smith in relief dominated the Vikings hitters, only allowing one hit and striking out four batters. He struck out the side in the top of the seventh inning to secure the state title for Walton as they won 10-3.
“It’s something that brings guys together”, Smith said about Walton’s bleached hair tradition. “Not everyone wants to do it, but you know everyone’s the same and no one is better than the other guy.”
This was a special season for Walton as they went 33-8 overall and 14-4 in the region. The Raiders recorded double-digit runs in four games in the playoffs.
“I think we had many moments in the year where we could have laid down against certain teams especially”, Clemson-commit Jackson Taylor said. “And we were able to fight and grit, pull-out some really big wins.”
Amos has now won three state titles in 20 years as head coach of the Raiders, with the other two coming in 2007 and 2016.
“This is probably the best cohesive team that I’ve ever had”, Walton head coach Shane Amos said. “And that’s 39 years.”
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