The Coalfield Baseball team fell to Eagleville, 6-5, in the Class 1A Championship held Saturday, May 24, 2025, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Photo by Danny Parker).
BY DAVE LINK
MURFREESBORO — The Coalfield baseball team’s magical season came to an end Saturday afternoon – one victory shy of the second state championship in school history.
And it came against what’s become a Class A powerhouse.
Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic (KOC) is the proud sponsor of 5Star Preps 2025 Spring Sports Postseason Coverage.
Eagleville High pushed across a run in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 6-5 victory over Coalfield in the state championship game at Middle Tennessee Christian School.
Eagleville (33-6), located about 30 minutes from Murfreesboro in Rutherford County, won its fourth straight state title in baseball. It has won 44 consecutive postseason games.
“They’re a good ballclub,” Coalfield senior catcher/pitcher Luke Treece said. “They’ve won four in a row. I was hoping to get ’em today. When they can bring in kids and have them play and keep reloading, it’s hard, but I’m really proud of this group and how we’ve grown up together and put in the work together.”
Treece’s dad David coached the Yellow Jackets to the program’s only state championship in 1998. Jackson Treece, a sophomore right-hander, is Luke Treece’s brother (David’s son), and was the starting pitcher Saturday.
David Treece was at Saturday’s game along with dozens of fans from Coalfield.
“I’m really excited for that,” said Luke Treece, a Lee University signee, “and I’m just glad he’s been here in the community and working on the baseball field and giving countless hours to our community, just helping this whole group get better as the season went on, and just him being there for me has been great.”
Luke Treece won the Class A Mr. Baseball Award in 2023 and was a Mr. Baseball Finalist the past two seasons. He and senior center fielder Levi Heidel were five-year starters for Coalfield’s baseball team.
They were the only two seniors in the 2025 starting lineup.
“We figured at the beginning of the year we could get to the state championship game, and we’ve done what we had to all year,” said Andy Lowe, in his 15th year as Coalfield’s coach. “We’ve prepared from Day One to get here, and I’m just totally proud of these boys.
“It’s been a long season, we’re 32-6, and I’m just proud of them. But this journey started five years ago when some of these boys were eighth-graders starting. I coached my first substate (sectional) five years ago, and this is our third time down here, so maybe next year we can come back.”
Coalfield lost to Eagleville in the 2022 and 2023 state tournaments but didn’t make it to state last season.
The Yellow Jackets didn’t get the start they wanted Saturday.
The Eagles scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning for a 2-0 lead and added three more in the third for a 5-1 lead against Jackson Treece, who was relieved by freshman right-hander Knox Pemberton in the fourth inning.
Eagleville’s Brody Gleason, a junior right-hander, took the 5-1 lead and a one-hitter into the fifth inning.
Coalfield rallied for three runs on four hits in the fifth inning.
Luke Treece had an RBI double in the fifth with a second run scoring on an error on the play, cutting the deficit to 5-3.
Luke Treece then scored on Jackson’s Treece’s RBI single to right field, making it 5-4, before Gleason ended the inning with a popup.
“They punched us in the mouth, scoring two in the first and three in the third,” Luke Treece said. “I’m just proud of our team and how they fought throughout the game.”
Eagleville and Gleason took the 5-4 lead into the seventh inning.
Lane Adcock, batting eighth in the lineup, led off Coalfield’s seventh with a single to right field.
Bo Wilson reached on a fielder’s choice.
Gleason was relieved by Drake Rzemieniewski, who walked Heidel.
Luke Treece (2 for 2, two RBIs) followed with an RBI single to left field, scoring Wilson and tying the game 5-5.
“I know if I get on, I’ve got some dogs behind me who can hit me in,” said Wilson, a sophomore who was 2 for 3 and scored three times.
After Luke Treece’s single, Eagleville brought Gleason back to the pitcher’s mound.
Gleason ended the inning with a strikeout and groundout.
Pemberton, who retired six straight from the fourth into sixth innings, gave up a single to Brady Burns starting the seventh inning.
Burns advanced on Marshall Spann’s sacrifice bunt, and Pemberton intentionally walked Gleason.
Pemberton retired Karsyn Knowles for the second out and was then relieved by Luke Treece, the starting catcher.
“Knox was pitching well,” Lowe said. “It was just my gut feeling. I thought Luke would come in and just get that one out, and I was going to bring Knox back in the eighth.”
The Yellow Jackets never got to the eighth.
With Eagles on first and second base, Koltt Bassham hit a grounder deep down the third-base line to Pemberton, who had moved to third base from the pitcher’s mound.
Pemberton’s long throw to first base took a bounce and got past the first baseman, allowing Burns to score. Bassham was credited with an infield single with the winning run scoring on an error by Pemberton.
“That’s a tough play to make,” Lowe said. “I took (Pemberton) off the mound. He didn’t want to come off the mound. That’s my nephew, and I put him in a hard situation playing third base there, but it’s baseball. Things are going to happen.”
Luke Treece said: “That (error) wasn’t the reason we lost. We lost the game in the first and third inning, for sure.”
Both teams finished with seven hits.
“I’m totally proud of this bunch,” Lowe said. “This bunch has been fun. They’ve had a good time every game. They’ve got their things they do, they’ve got props, and traditions they do all year.
“This community is what makes Coalfield what it is, and they’ll be able to live this and talk about this for the rest of their lives. A lot of their dads played in the state tournament, and I’m sure that they’ll have kids that come back to Coalfield and play in the state tournament one day.”