State baseball tournament preview: Can Lexington Catholic come out on top?
Lexington Catholic enters the opening round of this week’s state baseball tournament as the highest-ranked team in the field according to the final coaches poll of the regular season.
But that’s little assurance for the No. 4 Knights because this postseason has already had more than its share of upsets, most notably the toppling of No. 1 St. Xavier, the defending state champions, by upstart Eastern last Friday in the 7th Region championship.
LexCath emerged as its standard bearer from an 11th Region that included seven top 25 teams, arguably the toughest playoff test of anyone still playing.
All that’s left is to prove the Knights really are the best of the rest.
“Throughout the entire season, we knew what we were capable of and we’re going to show the entire state that we’re capable of winning a state championship here,” Lexington Catholic’s Griffin Cameron said after the Knights’ win over Great Crossing last week.
Droughts and streaks
LexCath, a three-time state champion, is making its first appearance at the state tournament since 2011.
Harrison County, a four-time state champ led by Kentucky high school baseball’s all-time coaching wins leader Mac Whitaker, hasn’t made the trip since 2013.
That’s also the last time 2000 state champ Henderson County made state.
Shelby County, a 1979 state champion, hasn’t been this far since 2010.
While Eastern hasn’t won the 7th Region since 1997, Breathitt County’s 44 years without a 14th Region title marked the longest drought in the field.
Meanwhile, the 1st Region’s McCracken County has never missed a state trip in the school’s existence, winning its region every year since 2014 and reaching the last two state finals
Ranked teams
Only seven teams from the final coaches-association affiliated PBR Kentucky/KHSBCA Power 25 made it to Lexington.
They are: No. 4 Lexington Catholic, No. 5 McCracken County, No. 8 Whitley County, No. 17 Shelby County, No. 20 Harrison County, No. 23 Beechwood and No. 24 Pikeville.
Giant killers
As mentioned above, Eastern pulled of the upset of the year by knocking off No. 1 St. X last week. But the Eagles have company in the spoiler category.
South Warren supplanted No. 10 Warren East despite losing its own district championship to Bowling Green. It avenged that loss to the Purples in the 4th Region finals.
No. 17 Shelby County pulled off a mild upset of No. 13 Woodford County, the defending 8th Region champ.
No. 18 Ryle got knocked out by No. 23 Beechwood in the first round of the 9th Region Tournament.
Top college prospects
McCracken County brings seven players already committed to continuing their careers in college, the most in the tournament.
Mustangs juniors Ross Aldridge (Louisville), Caleb Ehling (Wright State) and Miller Green (Western Kentucky) and senior Nathan Long (Bellarmine) are the NCAA Division I commits, according to PrepBaseballReport.com.
Lexington Catholic has four college commits led by senior outfielder Griffin Cameron (Kentucky) and sophomore catcher Owen Jenkins (Louisville).
Incredibly, Beechwood eighth-grade outfielder Tyler Fryman has already reportedly declared for Louisville. Unfortunately, his former Tigers teammate Mitchell Berger (Eastern Kentucky) was lost for the season due to a knee injury suffered playing football last fall.
Apollo has four future college players led by junior Will Strode (Kent State).
Hitters
Beechwood’s Cameron Boyd ranks as the tourney’s best hitter with a stunning .516 average and state-leading 12 home runs.
LexCath’s Owen Jenkins ranks as the top RBI guy with 53 knocked in.
Boyd and LexCath’s Cameron have each scored 53 runs this season.
Harrison County’s team batting average of .374 and its 25 home runs rank tops.
As a team, Whitley County has scored more runs, 355, than anyone in the state.
Swipers
Henderson County’s Dru Meadows ranks as the tourney’s top base stealer with 36, a few ahead of Whitley County’s Tyler Ross at 32.
As a team, Henderson’s 202 stolen bases are 63 more than the next closest tourney team, Shelby County.
Aces
Henderson’s Meadows has the lowest earned-run average among tournament pitchers with a 0.91 mark, a tick ahead of McCracken’s Tyler Chapman at 0.92
Pikeville’s Isaac Duty has the most strikeouts with 104, with Shelby County’s Jack Wills a few behind at 97.
McCracken’s pitching staff ranked seventh in the state in ERA at 2.09, while Shelby County racked up more strikeouts (329) in the state than all but Pikeville-ousted Paintsville.
State tournament
At Counter Clocks Field in Lexington, June 1-3
At Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington, June 9-10
Tickets: gofan.co/app/school/KHSAA
Streaming video: KHSAA.tv (via subscription); Go.PrepSpin.com (pay per view)
Streaming audio: KHSAA.net
Schedule listed in bracketed order
Thursday, June 1
1:30 p.m.: Bullitt East (22-13-1) vs. Eastern (27-12)
10 a.m.: McCracken County (28-10) vs. Shelby County (29-9)
8:30 p.m.: Raceland (25-9) vs. Lexington Catholic (29-9)
5 p.m.: Beechwood (27-8) vs. Apollo (23-12)
Friday, June 2
5 p.m.: Pikeville (24-11) vs. Harrison County (31-8)
8:30 p.m.: Henderson County (18-17) vs. Pulaski County (21-16)
10 a.m.: LaRue County (22-14) vs. Whitley County (35-4)
1:30 p.m.: Breathitt County (22-14) vs. South Warren (26-9)
Saturday, June 3
Quarterfinal games at 10 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
Friday, June 9
Semifinal games at 12:30 and 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 10
7 p.m.: Championship game
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