Dwyer Wins First State Championship In Team History

The 2024 Class 6A state champion Dwyer Panthers.

The Dwyer Panthers barnstormed their way through the 2024 Class 6A playoffs. Like a runaway train racing mercilessly down the track, the Panthers blasted through every stop to the final destination at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers. Saturday afternoon, Dwyer completed the journey with a resounding 10-3 win over the Buchholz Bobcats to win the Class 6A state championship.

It is the first baseball state title in school history.

“Now we can say that the job is finished,” Dwyer Manager Jordan Yamamoto said. “It’s the first time in school history that we made it to the state finals and won it. It’s kudos to the players, for them pushing each other in the offseason and all the way through the season to come out here and finish the job when it needed to be finished.”

Dwyer (23-7-1) made its first appearance at the state Final four in the 2021 season, a loss in the semifinals to the eventual state-champion Bloomingdale Bulls. Some players from that roster still remain, and now they get to bring it home for that team that last took them that far.

“Ever since that day ended when we lost that last playoff, I’ve always been thinking about this moment right here. This hasn’t left my head,” senior Bryce Jackson said.

The Panthers celebrate during a four-run second inning that gave them a 6-0 advantage.

In the same fashion that brought them this far, the Panthers were savages at the plate from the very first pitch. Dwyer took the lead right away, with two runs in the first inning. Bryce Jackson lined a double to left and Trevor Majer lined a single to right to put runners on the corners, and Sully Smith sent a two-RBI single past third base.

An inning later the Panthers were right back at it again, putting up another crooked number to take a 6-0 lead. Max Abrams was hit by a pitch and Jackson Miller singled to put more ducks on the pond. Bryce Jackson then delivered an RBI single on a shot just over the infield. Dawson Thrush followed with a liner to left that drove in a pair, and Kody Morgan plated another with an RBI single to center.

“We came out in the playoffs with intensity the whole time, in every game, and it just never stopped,” Jackson Miller said. “We were never content, because we knew what we wanted. In the end, we got what we wanted, to the final inning. We kept putting runs up every inning, and the saying was to win the inning.”

The Bobcats (24-9) answered back in the bottom of the second, when Anthony Wilke smoked a solo home run to left field and break up the shutout.

But the Panthers just kept pouring it on, tacking on runs in three of the final four innings. Playing in a grueling environment due to a record-setting heat wave gripping the entire state on Saturday, they showed no sign of fatigue under those conditions. The players maintained a high tempo all throughout, and their bats were hotter than the thermometer.

Dawson Thrush made the start and earned the win for the Panthers. He allowed three earned runs on five hits and two walks, with three strikeouts.

“I feel it was our hard work,” Trevor Majer said. “We came out in the fall, and had four or five-hour practices, then workouts and practices. It was pretty brutal on us and at first I thought our coach was crazy. I didn’t like him very much. But then I realized that all of the hard work was for a meaning and we had a purpose, and this was what it was for.”

Coach Yamamoto admits that he worked his guys very hard back in the fall at the very beginning of this journey. Those sacrifices had a purpose, and on Saturday that purpose was realized.

“I always tell the boys, the seventh inning, in a 30-second game is when guys are going to fall apart if they are not ready,” Yamamoto said. “Practices were meant for a reason, and now they finally understand it. All that extra time that they put in, now they understand what it’s about. It got them ready for this moment.”

Dwyer only seemed to get tougher and more ferocious as the game wore on. The Panthers piled up 15 total hits, nearly every guy from the starting nine reaching base to do his part. Majer led the way by going 3-for-4, and Thrush was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Dom Pecoraro went 2-for-4 and scored twice, and Jackson Miller was 2-for-5 with a triple, two RBI and two runs.

Thrush also picked up the victory on the mound, nearly going the distance to record all but the last out. The right-hander allowed three earned runs on five hits, with two walks and three strikeouts in six-and-a-third innings of work. Kody Morgan closed things out with a strikeout that ended the game and started the championship celebration.

Kody Morgan records the final out…

… and is mobbed by his teammates…

…as the Panthers dogpile to celebrate winning the Class 6A state championship.

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