Aces fall in extras at state tourney
Jun. 3—LEXINGTON — Owensboro Catholic battled back from a four-run deficit, but the fifth-ranked Aces couldn't overcome No. 6 Beechwood as they fell 7-6 in eight innings in the opening round of the KHSAA State Baseball Tournament on Thursday night at UK's Kentucky Proud Park.
Catholic's season came to an end at 30-5.
"These guys gave it everything they had," said Aces coach Jody Hamilton, who wrapped up his first season coaching OCHS. "It's been an unbelievable year. They won like gentlemen, and they're going to take this hard.
"They're going to take this very hard, but I think they'll wake up in the morning and see that whatever the plan is that God's given us, it's going to be clear and the path will be straight and they'll be great."
Beechwood (29-6) struck first, despite Catholic getting three runners on base in the top of the first inning. The Tigers took a 2-0 lead on RBIs from Brice Estep and Ben Meier in the bottom of the frame.
Alex Castlen's solo home run in the top of the second inning cut Catholic's deficit to 2-1.
From there, however, Beechwood scored three runs across the third and fourth innings to take a 5-1 advantage.
The Aces responded in the top of the fifth with a pair of scores — back-to-back RBIs from Braden Mundy and Brady Atwell — to pull to within 5-3.
The Tigers took a three-run lead with another score in the bottom of the fifth, only for Catholic to respond yet again. Luke Scales hit an RBI base hit, and Mundy clubbed a two-run single to tie the contest at 6-6.
After that, though, the Aces were unable to manufacture any more runs. Jackson Roseborrough's walk-off RBI base hit in the eighth ended the contest, sending Beechwood into the second round to face Russell County.
"I think we were good the whole game," Hamilton said. "I thought our energy level was tremendous, we just didn't get the break we needed when we needed it.
"We had our chances early to score some runs, but we just didn't do it."
The Aces finished with 10 runners left on base compared to Beechwood's four.
Mundy led the Catholic offense, going 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Scales and E Munsey added two hits and two runs apiece, as well.
Estep, the Tigers' catcher, went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Mitchell Berger picked up the pitching win, striking out eight batters and scattering six hits in 4 1/3 innings.
"I knew for a fact that their catcher was a nice player," said Hamilton, whose squad struck out 12 times, "but I don't know how many pitches he stole. That kid is so good, he had people all over the place thinking those were strikes, including us."
OWENSBORO CATH. 010 023 00 — 6 9 1
BEECHWOOD 202 110 01 — 7 9 2
WP-O'Shea. LP-Scales. 2B-Holladay, Estep, Jackson (B). 3B-Pangallo (B). HR-Castlen (OC).
