How Milan came so close, yet fell so far in Class 2A state baseball championship

MURFREESBORO – Milan sophomore left-hander Colin Milligan finished what he started Friday – the Class 2A state baseball final at Middle Tennessee State's Reese Smith Jr. Field.

He began the game at 12:58 p.m., when he pitched a ball that came to rest in the catcher's glove of his older brother Carter.

The final pitch of the game came nearly two-and-a-half hours later, at 3:26 p.m., in the bottom of the eighth inning. That's when Colin Milligan's bat met baseball. The baseball made its way to Union County shortstop Ian Setzer. He flipped it to second baseman Brady Stinnett to force out Barton James, putting a bow on Union County's 8-3, extra-inning victory.

The outcome gave Union County its first baseball state title and denied Milan its second.

"Those runner-up awards in the trophy case look really good – eventually," Milan coach Greg Scott said.

What happened in between that first pitch and final pitch was equal parts hope, nerves and opportunity.

Milligan threw his final pitch to his brother at 2:48 p.m. before exiting in the top of the eighth inning. He walked solemnly back to the third-base dugout, the bases behind him full of Union County runners. His final line read: 7 innings pitched, nine hits, four runs and three walks allowed. He also struck out five.

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"I thought he dug in there and did a great job, making big pitches," Scott said of Colin Milligan. "They've got a great offensive team. It's fun to watch our kids on this kind of stage. We were a strike away from getting out of the eighth. We were a swing away from winning in the bottom of the seventh."

"I feel like the coaches had a lot of trust in me," Colin Milligan said. "I had a lot of trust in myself. We just didn't get the result we were hoping for."

The bases weren't the only thing loaded by the time Milligan made his way from the mound. So too was the Bulldogs' adrenaline. Right-hander Rye Maxwell took Milligan's place on the mound and the Bulldogs managed to record two outs — a pickoff and a strikeout — before Union County scored six runs.

The first came on a wild pitch, the next on a passed ball, the next on an error, then a three-run double before the half-inning mercifully ended.

All of this after the teams played to a 2-all stalemate through seven innings.

Milan managed its first two runs thanks to hits from right fielder Grayson Stuckey and first baseman John Carter.

Stuckey’s seeing-eye single to center in the first inning brought Carter Milligan home for Milan’s first run. Milligan had reached thanks to a ground-rule double.

The Bulldogs didn't score again until the fifth inning, when Milligan crossed home plate on Carter's double to tie the score 2-2.

Milan left a runner on second to end the bottom of the seventh and scratched across one run in the eighth.

"We stopped and reminded ourselves how blessed we are to be a part of this season, winning a district championship, winning a regional championship, beating a very good team in sectionals to get here, beating great teams all week," Scott said.