HUNTINGTON — Gilmer County didn’t bring home the trophy it wanted here Saturday morning at Marshall University’s Jack Cook Field as the Titans had to settle for a runner-up finish after falling 4-1 to Sherman in the Class A state championship game.
The fourth-seeded Titans of head man Jacob Wolfe, who finished 28-8, reached the big show for a second straight campaign and the fifth overall in school history after falling in last year’s state semifinals to East Hardy.
As tough as it was to come up short to the third-seeded Tide, who won their first state title, the Titans definitely left it all out on the field.
Senior Jacob Stewart, junior Kolten Holbert and freshman Roddick Page were named to the all-tournament team.
Gilmer County should have a chance to make another strong run in 2027 since the Glenville-based program only graduates Jacob Stewart and fellow senior Seth Stewart, who are not related.
“Consummate professionals,” Wolfe said of his two seniors. “That’s a great way to put it. Just leaders. They’re fantastic. I mean Jacob Stewart is one of the best, if not the best third baseman I’ve ever coached. You know he could play anywhere. He pitched a dandy game. It’s on me, though, maybe I should’ve started him.
“We went for the defensive effort and it is what it is. Seth Stewart, I mean he’s solid and it’s almost a no fly zone out there in center field. He has wheels for days. A consummate professional, communicated with everybody, always there, always a good attitude. They are going to grow up to be great human beings. That’s the most important part.”
The Titans had planned to use Holbert on Saturday, but turned to Remi Huffman after Holbert had actually thrown 51 pitches during Thursday’s semifinal upset of top-seeded Huntington St. Joe.
“He talks on me pretty big sometimes,” Seth Stewart said of his coach. “We all make mistakes, of course. You know, I thought it was a great season. Never believed we would’ve made it this far.
“It was a run. I think they got a big future ahead of them next year. They are only losing me and Jacob so I think they’ll be pretty good and should be back here next year.”
Jacob Stewart’s advice to the underclassmen was simple, “just play hard and hopefully they’ll be back here in the same place.”
With Page also not being eligible to throw on Saturday, the Titans had to choose between Huffman and Jacob Stewart, who worked six innings of two-hit ball while not allowing an earned run with two walks and four strikeouts.
Huffman was lifted in the first inning after issuing a quartet of walks.
“We had planned to pitch Kolten Holbert,” explained Jacob Stewart. “The scoreboard told us wrong and he ended up throwing one more than he had to. We’re (he and Huffman) two very calm people. We just figured it out.
“We planned to throw Remi as long as he could go and come in if I needed to pitch, which ended up being a littler earlier than we would’ve liked. I mean it works out how it works out. We wanted it to be different, but that’s how it went.”
Despite coming up one win shy of the ultimate prize, Jacob Stewart took everything in stride.
“I mean it was a good season,” he said. “Not how we wanted to end it, but I guess you can’t really complain when you are here on a Saturday and playing baseball.”
