Championship bound! Airport baseball headed to 4A title series
Airport baseball’s unbeaten postseason run continued Thursday after punching its ticket to the state championship series.
The Eagles defeated South Florence, 9-2, to sweep the Class 4A Lower State best-of-three championship series.
Airport will face Seneca in the state championship series beginning at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Seneca. The Bobcats swept Daniel to win the Upper State championship. Game two will be at Airport at 7 p.m. Thursday. If necessary, game three is May 31 at Seneca.
It will be Airport’s fifth state championship appearance and first since 2018. The Eagles are 0-4 in previous title trips but hope to change that and get the program’s first state championship.
“It is special. We talked about how much hard work has been put into this. The work over the summer and in the fall,” Airport coach Casey Bradwell said after the game. “Lot of sweat and tears went into this, so it is good to see us have success. Seeing a lot of guys come back from other teams that weren’t able to get it done and support us has been special. It has been a great ride but we aren’t done yet.”
Airport is 7-0 in the playoffs this year and outscored the Bruins, 13-3, in the Lower State series.
Eagles’ pitcher Hunter Epps threw a complete game in winning his third game of the playoffs. Epps gave up one earned run on five hits, struck out four and didn’t walk a batter. It was Airport’s third complete game in the postseason.
Hunter Epps also picked up the save in Monday’s series opener. The trio of Hunter Epps, Cash Epps and Brice Gillette have pitched all the innings and combined for all seven of the wins.
“We’ve been riding them all through the playoffs,” Bradwell said. “They keep the pitch count low and have been great for us. They go out there and compete and give us a chance to win every time they go out there.”
Gillette hit a grand slam in the seventh inning and Landon Jeffcoat went 2-for-3 with two RBI for the Eagles. Justin Sightler also had a hit and an RBI.
Airport jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Jeffcoat had a two-run double in the inning. Braden Gross also had an RBI in the first.
Sightler had an RBI single in the fourth to put the Eagles up 5-0.
This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 10:03 PM.
