The Charles Henderson Trojans made it all the way to the championship round of the 2025 Jonah McWaters Baseball Tournament on the campus of Pike Liberal Arts School this weekend but fell by as sore of 10-6 to Dothan in the finals. 

On Friday night, the Pike Liberal Arts Patriots fell to Class 7A Dothan in pool play by a score of 6-2. Kade Brookins hit a solo home run for the Patriots but Pike only managed three hits as a team. Luke Barron pitched three and 2/3 innings and struck out four batters, while giving up two hits and one earned run. Dawson Bradford also struck out one batter and gave up no hits or earned runs in one and 2/3 innings pitched. 

For Dothan, Carter Richards earned three RBIs and Braddoc Jenkins tallied two hits. Pike held Dothan to just four hits as a team. Travis Benton pitched five and 2/3 innings with two strikeouts, while giving up one hit and one earned run. Pike Lib gave up three errors in the loss, while Dothan had no errors 

After losing to Opelika in the final pool play game on Friday, the Trojans faced off against Park Crossing in the quarterfinals on March 1. CHHS picked up a resounding 8-3 win to advance to the semifinals. 

Cooper Johnson went 1-for-2 at the plate with an RBI and two runs, while Kellen Stewart went 1-for-2 with a double and a run. Braylon Banks scored two runs, while Owen Pugh, Wes Templin and Trenton Bryan scored one run each. Chase Vaznaian pitched three and 1/3 innings and struck out six batters, while giving up six hits and one earned run. Will Watkins also pitched one and 1/3 innings and struck out a batter along with giving up no hits or earned runs. 

For Park Crossing, JaCorey Green scored one run and earned a double, while Maurice Smith pitched two and 1/3 innings and struck out three batters, while giving up seven hits and seven earned runs. 

Pike Lib then topped Geneva by a score of 6-4 in the other quarterfinal matchup. Jack Baggett went 2-for-3 at the plate for Pike, while Charlie Fountain scored two runs. Kade Brookins also earned a double, one RBI and one run. Garrett Whitaker pitched two innings and struck out one batter, while giving up three hits and two earned runs. Bradford also pitched three innings and fanned a pair of batters along with giving up two hits and one earned run.

For Geneva, John Parker Johnson led the way both offensively and defensively. He went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double, a triple, two RBIs and two runs. He also pitched four innings and gave up three hits and two earned runs. 

In the semifinals, Charles Henderson throttled Class 7A Opelika by a score of 8-3, getting a measure of revenge for Friday’s loss. Trenton Bryan went 2-for-4 at the plate for CHHS with one RBI and one run. Cooper Johnson scored two runs, while Owen Pugh earned a triple and two runs. Ben Cochran also hit a double and scored one run.

Clay Johnson pitched three innings and struck out a pair of batters, while giving up four hits and two earned runs. Will Watkins also struck out one batter and gave up two hits and one earned run in two innings of work on the mound. Dylan Westburg struck out two batters in one inning pitched. 

For Opelika, Brodie Jones went 2-for-3 at the plate, while Landon Rudd pitched four and 1/3 innings and gave up three hits and one earned run with four strikeouts. 

In the other semifinal game, it seemed as if Pike Lib would storm past Dothan leading to the first ever matchup on the baseball diamond between the Patriots and Trojans, but the Wolves rallied to win 10-9. 

Pike Lib jumped out to a resounding 8-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning but Dothan cut the lead to 8-1 in the bottom of the second and then exploded to score seven runs in the third and two in the fourth to take control by a score of 10-8. Pike Lib managed to score one run in the top of the fifth but would not be able to come any closer as time ran out on the game. Both teams gave up five errors each. 

Jackson Bowen went 2-for-2 at the plate for Pike with two RBIs, one double and one run, while Cole Garrott went 1-for-2 with two runs. Brookins pitched four innings and fanned a pair of batters, while giving up eight hits and four earned runs. 

For Dothan, Emmanuel Lewis went 3-for-3 with a double, a triple, two RBIs and two runs. Edmund Cody pitched two innings struck out three batters along with giving up one hit and one earned run. 

In the championship game, Charles Henderson also seemingly had Dothan on the ropes before a rally turned the tides. CHHS led 5-2 going into the bottom of the second before giving up three runs on errors to tie the score 5-5. A two-run homer from Dothan in the third inning extended the lead to 7-5 and the Wolves never looked back. Errors were costly for CHHS as the Trojans gave up five as a team. 

Wes Templin went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs and a run for CHHS, while Kellen Stewart earned a triple, two RBIs and two runs. Chase Vaznain went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Owen Pugh scored two runs.

Stewart pitched two innings and struck out three batters, while giving up five hits and three earned runs. Will Watkins pitched two innings and struck out a batter along with giving up one hit and one earned run. Blake Lowery also struck out three batters and gave up one hit and one earned run in two innings of work.

For Dothan, Kane Shellhouse went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and two runs, while Perrin Gomez went 2-for-2 with a homer, three RBIs and one run. Braddoc Jenkins pitched five and 1/3 innings and and fanned eight batters, while giving up three hits and no earned runs.