JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Trinity Christian baseball team returned to campus this evening with the 4A championship trophy in front of family and friends.
It's the first baseball title in school history and makes the Conquerors only the third team locally to win a football and baseball title in the same year.
Head coach Gil Morales won his fourth state title but had not been to the championship game in seven years. Morales called this a four year process.
"These guys just believed," Morales said. "They believed in what we were trying to do and the emotion you saw last night is because I know how hard these guys worked to win this state championship."
Rollin Layton pitched the final inning to preserve the 6-4 win over Bishop Verot, that ended just before one a.m. He says it was well worth the wait.
"It was crazy last night after the last out just looking for someone to hug,"Layton said. "Everyone was the happiest they've ever been. It feels great."
Trinity Christian has long been known as a football power and four football players helped bring home the baseball title. The football players said this one was special because no one expected them to win.
"I've won two in football," Cody Crawford said. "Nothing compares to the feeling of winning in baseball. It's the one and only and we made history."