APEX — After celebrating an upset win over rival Wake Forest in the first round, Heritage’s baseball team was blown out by Apex in the second round of the 4A state playoffs on the road Thursday, May 12.

It was a scoreless game until Apex broke off six runs in the bottom of the third inning. Heritage responded with two runs in the top of the fourth, but the Cougars put the game away in the bottom of the fourth with eight more runs.

The Huskies were unable to score in the top of the fifth, which ended the game in mercy rule at 14-2.

Heritage head coach Joe John said his team’s offense didn’t get going as early as he wanted them to, which led to Apex taking advantage in the third inning.

“We really needed to strike first since we were on the road in a hostile environment and we knew going in that we would likely be throwing four or five different pitchers,” John said. “Unfortunately, Apex struck first in the third inning, which led to back to back big innings for them. We often talk about three runs or less per inning and we can still manage the game, but when you give up multiple big innings it is hard to recover from.”

Heritage’s Elijah Jordan put in a solid effort in his last game as a Husky. The senior had one hit with two RBIs that brought home Alex Manley and Jony Venegas as the only scores of the game.

In the first round game at Wake Forest, Heritage faced a familiar opponent. The rivals have played each other four times this season, with the Cougars getting the regular season sweep, but the Huskies exacted revenge in the NAC 6 conference tournament.

This time, Heritage pulled off a come-from-behind effort to down their rivals a second time this year with a 14-9 win in extra innings on the road Tuesday, May 10.

Wake Forest went ahead 4-0 after the first inning. Heritage didn’t score until the top of the fourth with two runs to cut the deficit to 4-2. The Cougars added one more in the bottom of the fourth to make it 5-2.

The biggest moment of the game was when the Huskies pulled off six unanswered runs in the top of the fifth to take an 8-5 lead. Wake Forest tied the game in the bottom of the inning to make it 8-8.

In the top of the eighth inning, Heritage recorded another six-run inning to go ahead 14-8, thanks to a home run by freshman Andrew Kilgore. Wake Forest only managed one run in the bottom of the eighth, as the Huskies held on for the victory.

“We had a low spot during our spring break tournaments and we challenged our leadership to step up the remainder of the season,” John said. “Practices became tougher, guys held each other accountable and the team played harder. It was obvious that they had really bought in to caring for each other. Wake Forest was a fantastic team this year. Coach Carlos Varela did a great job with those guys. No doubt, one of the toughest lineups we faced and we knew they would fight until the last out. We played a very hard schedule this year and we had been in situations earlier in the year where we had to respond to opponents fighting back and we were prepared for it. We had some great individual performances down the stretch. We won that game because a bunch of tough dudes became tougher throughout the season and cared more for each other than they did themselves, the Husky Way.”

Eddie Sanchez led the way for Heritage with three hits, three RBIs and a run. Jordan also registered three hits, while Venegas recorded two hits, three RBIs and a run. Kilgore finished the game with two this, two RBIs and a run and Landon Fleming had two hits, two runs and a RBI.

With the loss to Apex, Heritage finished the season 13-13 overall. The Huskies placed fourth in the NAC 6 conference with a 5-5 record.

Despite the postseason loss, John brought up a large list of highlights and accomplishments his team made throughout the season. Heritage pitched a no-hitter with three different players in its win over Sanderson, Venegas’ walk-off home run against Apex Friendship, Josh Mruk breaking the school’s single season strikeout record and many more.

“It is always tough to end a season,” John said. “I told the guys I was very thankful for the opportunity to coach them.  We, as a staff, talked often about how proud we were of how these guys handled such a difficult schedule. We played 11 playoff teams this year and some of those teams multiple times. We told them we feel the same about this team now as we did after knocking off Wake Forest. This was a tough team who developed, progressed, and grew together as the season went on and that is all you hope for as a coach.”

Heritage will say goodbye to six seniors. John said he gave them a thankful farewell speech after the loss to Apex.

“We thanked the seniors for their efforts and reminded them that they will face difficult situations in their lives moving forward,” John said. “I hope their experience with Heritage baseball has helped prepare them to handle those times and we are excited to see what is next for them.”