The “suicide squeeze heard round the world” will forever live in South Walton baseball history.
And Hudson Quinn will forever be remembered as the player who delivered it.
Quinn, a senior catcher, laid down a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt in the bottom of the seventh inning to score Declan Fowler for the walk-off run, lifting South Walton to a 6-5 victory over North Broward Prep and the program’s first state championship. The Seahawks finished 30-4 overall and a perfect 9-0 in the postseason.
But the title didn’t come easy.
South Walton and North Broward Prep had already met once this season, with the Seahawks winning 14-6 in February. And early on, the state final looked like it might follow a similar script.
South Walton jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third. Coleman Borthwick opened the frame 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.
- North Broward Prep got on the board in the fourth when Alex Smith tripled and Julian Rodriguez singled him home to cut the deficit to 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. 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. 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.
Suddenly, it looked like North Broward Prep would do the unthinkable, and state title game heartbreak could once again be the order of the day for the Seahawks.
But it wasn’t.
Lord was pulled in favor of Granse, who wasted no time ending the bleeding. And South Walton would pounce.
Fowler was hit by a pitch. Hawk singled. Jace Cunningham singled to load the bases.
That brought Quinn to the plate.
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.
South Walton is your Class 3A state champion.
Gone are the days of heartbreak. Gone are the days of waiting for a local team to break through on the state’s biggest stage. And it came behind one of the most dominant teams the area has seen — a 30-4 record, a perfect 9-0 postseason, not a loss since March 28, and a generational roster headlined by Borthwick and Lord.
The results speak for themselves: the first state title 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.
It’s also the fourth state title for an area team this school year, following Rocky Bayou football’s SSAA 2A championship in November, Fort Walton Beach cheer’s 1A Game Day title in January, and Niceville boys track and field’s state title last weekend.
The Seahawks’ roster will look much different next season. Among key contributors, only Howard, Hawk and Justin Didier are expected to return in 2027.
