In the bottom of the seventh inning of a tie game, with the bases loaded and a state championship hanging in the balance, Hudson Quinn knew exactly what was coming.

• “I was actually feeling pretty confident before the at bat, just because I knew it was going to be a bunt situation with the bases loaded,” Quinn said. “I’m confident bunting and getting the bunt down because we do it every day, so I was feeling pretty good.”

Quinn, a senior catcher, laid down a textbook suicide squeeze that scored Declan Fowler for the walk-off run, lifting South Walton to a 6-5 victory over North Broward Prep and the program’s first baseball state championship. The Seahawks finished 30-4 overall and a perfect 9-0 in the postseason.

“I was obviously stressed because it’s the bottom of the seventh inning, it’s a tie ball game and a state championship,” Quinn said. “But I was pretty confident that we were going to get it done. And we did. It was awesome.”

The rematch

The two teams had met once before this season, with South Walton winning 14-6 in February at a tournament in Hoover. But Quinn said that game didn’t offer much of a scouting edge.

“The team that we played in February is different than the North Broward Prep we played yesterday because we played them in Hoover,” Quinn said. “It’s like four games in two days, and everybody’s just exhausted, out of pitching. Both teams are not their best. We knew that we’d already beaten them, but we weren’t going to take it lightly because of that.”

South Walton takes control

The Seahawks didn’t take it lightly — they took control early.

Coleman Borthwick opened the third inning with a double, and Nathan Whitney drove him home. Vaughn Howard singled, Parker Granse walked, and Fowler singled to score Whitney and load the bases. Carter Hawk was hit by a pitch to force in Howard, and Jace Cunningham brought home Granse on a sacrifice groundout, giving South Walton a 4-0 lead.

North Broward Prep got on the board in the fourth when Alex Smith tripled and Julian Rodriguez singled him home to make it 4-1.

The Seahawks answered when Howard reached on an error, Granse singled, and Jayden Cunningham singled to score Howard, pushing the lead to 5-1.

It looked like South Walton would cruise to the title.

North Broward Prep fights back

But North Broward Prep refused to throw in the towel. Smith was hit by a pitch, and Marcus Hall ripped a double to score him, making it 5-2. Denton Lord recorded three outs to end the frame, but the Eagles weren’t done.

Lord ran into trouble in the seventh, giving up four consecutive singles to open the frame — to Zach Tavarez, Adrian Rodriguez, Gabriel Coupet and Caden Coleman — with the final two being RBI singles and Coleman’s tying the game at 5-5.

Even then, Quinn said, the dugout never wavered.

“It was stressful, because they started coming together out of nowhere and putting up runs,” he said. “But I still knew that we had a really good chance because we were still going to hit. And Parker getting that strikeout to end the inning — I just knew that we had enough after that.”

The squeeze

Parker Granse, who had relieved Lord after the Eagles’ rally, struck out the final batter to strand the tying run and hand the momentum right back to South Walton.

In the bottom of the seventh, Fowler was hit by a pitch, Hawk singled and Jace Cunningham singled to load the bases — setting the stage for Quinn.

What followed may go down as the most memorable play in area baseball history — a textbook suicide squeeze that scored Fowler for the game-winning walk-off run, sending the Seahawks into a frenzy.

After the bunt scored Fowler, Quinn initially ran away from first base to celebrate with his teammates before a coach brought him back to touch the bag. The moment drew scrutiny from viewers watching the broadcast, as the camera angle didn’t clearly show Quinn returning to first.

• “They just assumed that the game was over because the only way they could have ended it is turning a double play,” Quinn said. “They saw that run score and then gave up.”

‘It’s indescribable’

Days later, the weight of what South Walton accomplished was still sinking in.

“It’s insane,” Quinn said. “Me and the boys were actually just at the beach, and every five minutes one of the guys just comes up and grabs you saying ‘we’re really state champs’. It’s just crazy. It’s the best feeling ever. It’s indescribable.”

The title is the first in South Walton baseball history, the first baseball state championship for an area program, and the second state title in school history behind the girls basketball team’s championship in 2012-13. South Walton’s generational roster, headlined by Borthwick and Lord, finished with a 30-4 record and hasn’t lost since March 28.