Southwestern falls to Cards in Finals
May 19—MONTICELLO — Thanks to a three-hit shutout pitching performance by Wayne County senior Renan Dobbs, the homestanding Cardinals downed Southwestern High School 10-0 in the finals of the 48th District Baseball Tournament on Wednesday. The Cardinals finished off the Warriors in five innings for their second straight district crown.
The first two innings went pretty smooth for the Warriors, as neither team could put any runners across the plate. But the sky opened up with a downpour of runs in the bottom half of the third inning, as the Cardinals put five runs on the board.
In the bottom of the third, Wayne County played some small ball to tack on their five runs. Renan Dobbs walked and advanced to third base after Andrew Brammer reached base on a bunt that was misplayed at first base. After a Jayden Keith ground out to advance Brammer to second base, Kamryn Hancock singled through the left side of infield to score Dobbs. Malachi Brown singled to shortstop to score Brammer. Pitman grounded out to score Hancock. Dylan Tucker laid down a perfect bunt between the catcher and the pitcher, allowing Malachi Brown to score. Cory Brown got on base with an error of the right fielder to allow Tucker to score. However, Cory Brown was thrown out at third base on the play to end the inning.
During the break between the bottom of the third inning and the top of the fourth, the Warriors lost all of their on-field coaching with two assistants being ejected from the game and head coach Michael Gover confined to the dugout. Southwestern had to send two players out to coach first and third base for the remainder of the contest.
Southwestern stranded two runners in the top of the fourth after Caleb Ramsey reached base on an error and Ben Howard singled with only one out.
The Cardinals added to more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to go up 7-0. Keith singled to left field to score Dobbs. Hancock singled to right field to score Keith.
Wayne County ended the game early with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to run-rule the Warriors 10-0. With Pitman on third base and Cory Brown on second base, Rains drilled a double to left field to score Pitman and Cory Brown. Keith singled to right field to score Gage Gregory — who was courtesy running for Rains — for the walk-off win.
Southwestern got runners on base each inning, but could produce runs.
In the top of the third, Southwestern's Jonas Gallagher hit a two double down the left field line but was stranded at the end of the frame. The Warriors stranded one runner on base in both the second and third innings.
Caleb Ramsey reached base on an error in the fourth inning, and advanced to second after Ben Howard singled, but both base runners remained there when the inning ended.
Jayce Gager got on base off an error in the top of the fifth, and advanced to third off a Kolton Durham sacrifice bunt and a tag off a Gallagher fly out. But Gager was stranded at third when the inning ended.
Jonas Gallagher, Caleb Ramsey and Ben Howard recorded the only Southwestern hits.
For Wayne County, Jayden Keith had two hits, drove in two runs, and scored a run. Kamryn Hancock had two hits, drove in a run, and scored a run. Gyson Rains had one hit and drove in two runs. Renan Dobbs had one hit and scored two runs.
Local players named to the 48th District All-Tournament Baseball Team were Wyatt Morgan, Jonah Brock, and Jonas Gallagher from Southwestern; and Kamryn Hancock, Malachi Brown, Gyson Rains, and Renan Dobbs from Wayne County.
Both Wayne County (21-9) and Southwestern (10-25) will advance to next week's 12th Region Tournament.
STEVE CORNELIUS is the CJ Sports Editor and can be reached at sports@somerset-kentucky.com. Follow him on Twitter at @CJSportseditor.
