Providence High School baseball pitching duo leads Panthers to undefeated state title
The Providence Panthers won the NCHSAA 4A state championship over the Pinecrest Patriots on the backs of two outstanding pitchers — Eli Jerzembeck and Michael Forret.
Providence (34-0) won the best-of-3 state finals series two games to none.
Jerzembeck started it Friday night with a 3-hit, 13-strikeout shutout in a 3-0 win. On Saturday, he threw the 10th inning to close out the deciding Game 2 after Forret pitched almost eight innings, tossing 12 strikeouts.
They were the 1-2 punch for the Panthers the entire playoffs, and both did what was needed down the stretch in a championship game that went three innings longer than normal.
“Most of us are seniors,” Forret, an East Carolina recruit, said following the win. “We wanted to finish it in two and keep the record at 34-0. I knew it would be my last game whether we won or lost, so I just went out there and emptied everything I had in me and gave everything I could to this program in this game, and we came out on top.”
Forret was at a loss for words when asked just what this meant to him personally, to go out with a ring his senior year.
“It’s the best feeling in the world,” he said. “It’s a mixture of laughing, and crying, we just gave everything we had in that game. It was a 10-inning ball game and it is just the best feeling in the world.”
Jerzembeck, a South Carolina recruit, had similar feelings.
“It means everything to me,” Jerzembeck said. “Going into the season we had the idea that we thought we could do it (go undefeated). We never gave up, we just kept battling and it finally happened.”
After pitching in Game 1, Jerzembeck knew he wanted to close out Game 2, but it wasn’t up to him, or coach Hignight, according to the coach himself. It was up to Mike Jerzembeck, his father. Coach Hignight wanted to let Eli come in and close, but he was insistent about making sure that Eli wasn’t going to be jeopardizing his future by coming in on short rest.
“When Eli came to me this morning and said, ‘Coach my arm feels great,’ I said, Mike Jerzembeck will make that decision,” Hignight said. “Of course, Eli went and got Mike so I went back there and talked to Mike, and Mike green-lighted it.”
Once Jerzembeck came into the game, it looked like it was going to be quick work.
However, after striking out his first batter faced, the fatigue of short rest seemed to bother Jerzembeck. He allowed Pinecrest to load the bases with one out.
But Jerzembeck regained his composure and closed out the game.
He struck out a batter and forced another to ground out. Providence rushed the field to celebrate its accomplishment: going 34-0, setting a new state record for wins, and winning the third state title in school history.
“I think it (the win) just shows how much of a family we are,” Jerzebeck said. “We hold each other accountable. We don’t get too high or too low, it is just pitch-by-pitch. We make sure everybody had that same mindset and if they don’t, we make sure they do. So yeah, just being a big family.”
This story was originally published June 5, 2022 at 6:00 AM.