Carolina Forest baseball blanks James Island, advances to Lower State

Jack Jolly gave all of his players a big hug following Wednesday’s win.

They deserved an embrace from the coach who has helped pushed them this far.

After all, the Carolina Forest baseball team reached the Lower State tournament for the first time since 2011 with a 3-0 win over James Island in the Class AAAA, District VII finals.

Carolina Forest starter Jakob Frishmuth picked up the victory on the mound as he struck out seven and scattered six hits and two walks in a shutout. Jolly said pitching has been the key to the team’s success as its remained undefeated throughout the playoffs.

“It’s exciting. To be district champs from where we started at the beginning of the year and where we are now, this team has come a long way,” said Jolly, whose team also beat James Island 5-0 Saturday. “One thing that has been consistent, though, has been our pitching and we got another great performance from [Frishmuth].”

That they did.

But a couple of runs early on set the pace for Frishmuth and the Panthers.

Patrick Orlando hit an RBI bunt single as Jared Lembcke scored on the play after a fielding error by first baseman Hunter Chinnis to give Carolina Forest a 2-0 advantage.

“We wanted to score early; we felt like that would take some pressure off us and help us be able to relax and play the game,” Jolly said. “We just had the right people up at the right time and had who we wanted in that situation to be able to execute those things.”

Lembcke hit a sac fly in the sixth inning to extend the Panthers’ lead to 3-0.

“We were fortunate there at the end to add another one to be able to put them in a situation where they can’t bunt and needed back-to-back hits to make something happen,” Jolly said.

James Island loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs to bring the potential go-ahead run to the plate, but Frishmuth struck out Chinnis to shut the door. Frishmuth credited his teammates for picking him up.

“My teammates behind me are amazing. They mean everything to me and they get the job done every time I’m out there,” Frishmuth said. “All of us have been playing together for an extremely long time and we’re always going to be family.”

Said Jolly: “[Frishmuth] threw two of his three pitches throughout the whole game for strikes and I really think that kept them off-balance. There was a couple of times he got in trouble but he was able to come out and make a huge pitch at the right time and that’s what good pitchers do. He was very good tonight.”

Carolina Forest has momentum on its side as it had won five straight games heading into the playoffs and is now on an eight-game winning streak.

“We’ve been playing really well,” Frishmuth said. “Pitching has been on point and we could pick up the hitting a little bit but we all have faith in our coaches.”

Orlando finished 1-for-3 with an RBI and Lembcke and Dylan Roberts were both 1-for-2 to lead the Carolina Forest offense, which gathered just five hits.

James Island lefty starter Patrick Finklestein received the loss, but was solid as he allowed three runs (one earned) on five hits, one walk and also struck out seven.

“We knew [Finklestein] was going to be tough,” Jolly said. “I thought we had a good approach; there were times we went away from it a little bit but that’s why I pressed the issue and we squeezed when we did because I felt like we needed to get something on the board.”

Meanwhile, after hosting two playoff games, the Panthers will have to travel no matter what to begin the Lower State tournament. The Summerville-Sumter winner will host Carolina Forest on Saturday.

“We’re in the bracket that will travel so it’s already designated: we’re on the road Saturday and win or lose, we’re on the road Monday. But we’re just happy to be here,” Jolly said. “There will be four teams left in the Lower State at the end of the night and Carolina Forest will be one of them so this is a huge step for our program.”

And Frishmuth wants to take the next step.

“We’re gonna keep it going and try to win it all,” he said.

This story was originally published May 6, 2015 at 9:31 PM with the headline "Carolina Forest baseball blanks James Island, advances to Lower State."