Hudson Pullig scored an unearned run in the first inning and Ian Tilley made it stand up as 5th seeded, Quitman High School, stunned defending LHSAA Division V state champion and #1 ranked Pitkin, 1-0, to advance to their first ever championship game in baseball.  

With the victory, the Wolverines improved to 18-10 on the year while Pitkin see their season end with a 23-4 record. Quitman’s opponent in the state final contest will be #3 seed, Hicks (19-8), who also pulled an upset when they knocked off #2 Weston, 5-1, in the other semi-final contest played on Tuesday. First pitch for the championship game to be played Friday, May 10, on Field 40 at McMurry Park in Sulphur is set for 11:00am. 

Ian Tilley has never purchased property in Vernon Parish. Nevertheless, he OWNS Pitkin. Or at least the Pitkin High School baseball team in the proverbial sense. In the biggest game of his sterling career, the senior did something that no other Division V school had been able to do all season – beat the Tigers. 

For that matter only three schools all year had accomplished the task, a pair of 3A schools and one 5A team. All three losses coming into the semi-final matchup had been by a total of 5 runs combined. Of the 26 times that Pitkin had taken the field, on 13 occasions the Tigers had scored in double digits. That includes the last five games of the regular season and the first two playoff games. To say Tilley had a “tall task” is an understatement. 

Despite the daunting challenge, QHS head coach Joe Lockhart was supremely confident with the prospect of pulling off what many had thought to be near impossible. He knew he had an “ace in the hole”. Actually it should be said an “ace on the hill”. 

“What most don’t know is that the last time that Pitkin lost in the playoffs was when Ian shut them out in the 2022 quarterfinals,” reflected Lockhart. “I felt we had a great chance with him on the bump.”

Tilley was simply terrific in keeping Pitkin from scoring for what is now 14 innings in a row. What makes his performance all the more impressive is that he shut down the potent Pitkin offense without striking out a single batter. While he didn’t K a batter, he threw a lot of strikes, 42 to be exact, out of the incredibly efficient 69 pitches he threw over the course of the seven innings.  

“I have watched a lot of really good pitchers over the years totally control a game but Ian’s ability to hit his spots today was the best I have ever seen,” praised Lockhart. 

Ten times Tilley got the 26 Pitkin batters he faced out on the first pitch.  Only twice all game did he throw five pitches to a batter. At no time in the contest did Pitkin manage to put more than one runner on base in an inning.  Only once, in the third inning, did the Tigers manage to get a runner to third base. In the fourth frame, Pitkin have a man reach second. Other than that, Tilley allowed only three more base runners reach first, two by singles and one on the only walk he gave up all game.  

It only took two pitches for Quitman to prove their intent on setting school history by reaching their first ever state championship game in baseball. Leadoff batter, Hudson Pullig, looked at a ball then hit a rope to left field that hit the fence just a few inches below the rail, coasting in to second with a double. Logan Ponder followed with another shot to left that was run down by the Pitkin fielder but deep enough for Pullig to tag and move up to third. 

“I guess you could say we took a chance there,” laughed Lockhart. “Normally you don’t try to take third on a fly ball to left, but it was pretty deep and Hudson had some good wheels. As it turned out, it was a key play in the game.” 

That set the stage for what turned out to be the difference in the game. It looked like Quitman was going to leave Pullig stranded at third when John Raegan Hasley hit two-out, grounder to first base that was booted allowing for Pullig to score.

“I would have never dreamed that would be the only run of the game but as it turned out that was all we needed,” said Lockhart. “When two good teams play often the difference is the one play you should make but don’t. It worked to our advantage today.”