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CHESAPEAKE — Brothers Michael and Austin Irby were part of the Cox state championship team in 2021.
It was a thrill that neither will ever forget.
But now they’re trying to make more memories one last time as they helped lead the Falcons back to the Class 5 state tournament with a 5-1 victory over Hickory in the Region A semifinals on a chilly Friday night. The loss snapped an 11-game winning streak for the Hawks, who finished the season 14-8.
The temperatures, which dipped into the 50s, didn’t seem to bother Michael Irby on the mound.
“The adrenaline being out here is like a blanket,” said Michael, who held the Hawks to four hits over six innings.
He credited his team’s philosophy of trusting one another as the key to Cox’s success this season.
“Our whole thing this year has been to trust the guy in front of you and behind you,” he said. “I just have to make quality pitches and trust the defense.”
With the game tied at 1 in the fifth, Irby got the necessary offense he needed thanks to his brother, who smashed a three-run homer in the Falcons’ four-run inning.
“I absolutely loved it,” Michael said about his younger brother’s exploits. “We needed some runs, and he gave me a huge cushion to play with. It made it much easier after that. It was a real confidence boost for the whole team.”
Austin, a junior, said it felt great to come up with the big hit for his brother, who will play for East Carolina next season.
“It means everything,” he said. “I’ve been playing with him for a long time, and we’re going to play together in college, too. But we want to ride this as long as we can.”
Both say this feels like it could be another special run for the Falcons.
“It feels a lot like the 2021 season when we had a lot of chemistry,” Michael said. “And we’re all best friends playing for each other.”
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“Everybody is so close,” Austin added. “It’s like a brotherhood every time we go out and play. I think that’s what’s keeping us together.”
The Falcons (19-3) will meet First Colonial in the region championship game Tuesday at Indian River High at 5 p.m. The Patriots scored twice in the third inning and held off Kempsville 2-1 to advance to the state tournament.
But they needed a strong pitching performance from senior reliever David Fall.
“Senior Casey Proctor had been throwing great, but hit a wall,” said Patriots coach Scott Stubbe. “But David Fall came in and worked out of the bases-loaded jam in the fifth, and then struck out the last batter with bases loaded to end the game.”
The Patriots (17-4-1) are headed back to the state tournament. They last went in 2018.
“I’m real excited for the team, especially the seniors who had at least one season taken away from them because of the pandemic,” Stubbe said. “We have been working all year to be playing our best at the end of the season. We’re motivated to keep getting better.”
Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com Follow @LHRubama on Twitter.