When Princeton High School came to the state baseball tournament in 2010, it was their first time since 1974 the Tigers had played in the final four. It was take only two years for Princeton to return and this time the Tigers left town with the Class AAA 2012 championship.
Sunday afternoon in front of a large Appalachian Power Park crowd the Tigers defeated Nitro 7-4 for the title. Nitro was the team that knocked Princeton out of the 2010 tournament with a 3-2 semi-final round win.
((Below is Princeton’s reaction from the Class AAA State Championship Game))
For five innings it looked like Nitro might do the same against Princeton. The Wildcats struck for a single run in the second, three more an inning later and looked to be control of the game. A Dylan Slack home run in the second put the Wildcats on the scoreboard. It was the first homer struck in this tournament but it wouldn’t be the last.
Princeton was able to score in the fifth inning on a Seth Rose blast to left, but the sixth was when the Tigers would unleash their offense. Six Princeton runs would cross the plate before the inning was over and the Tigers took command of the game.
Alex Quick picked up the win for the Tigers. Quick pitched the final three innings and would surrender just three hits. In the meantime Austin Southcutt, Rose and Quick were pounding out two hits each for the Tigers offense. Corey Quick and J J McPherson both knocked in two runs.
The Tigers take the title in just the third year of Josh Wilburn’s coaching tenure. For Nitro, the Wildcats have played in four of the last five Class AAA championship games.