‘Not going to quit.’ McCracken rallies, St. Xavier rolls in state baseball quarterfinals.
McCracken County rallied from a two-run deficit to defeat Campbell County 4-3 on Saturday night at Kentucky Proud Park.
The Mustangs, ranked as the No. 1 team in the state, advance to the KHSAA State Baseball Tournament semifinals to take on St. Xavier on Friday. It will be a rematch of a May 7 game that St. Xavier won 8-5. McCracken County (35-6) has not lost since that day.
“Our guys are not going to quit,” McCracken County Coach Zach Hobbs said. “We didn’t play our best today. Campbell County had some real timely hits. They’re a good baseball team, well-coached. Man, we just kept fighting. Our guys are never going to give up. At this stage, ugly, pretty, whatever, survive and advance is what you’re trying to do. We’ll get to come back to the Final Four again and face a very good St. X club. We’ll come out and be ready to play baseball the best we can. . . . I love these guys and am proud of these guys.”
Campbell County (24-11) led 2-0 after the first 2 1/2 innings and chased sophomore starter Ross Aldridge, who is a University of Louisville commit, from the game after just 2 1/3 innings of work. A sacrifice fly by Zack Riley brought home the game’s first run, and Campbell County added another run in the top of the third when Greg Vineyard scored on a passed ball.
But sophomore left-handed pitcher Caleb Ehling was brilliant for McCracken County as he struck out seven Campbell County hitters and gave up just two hits and one earned run over 4 2/3 innings of relief. This allowed McCracken County to claw its way back.
The Mustangs tied the game in the bottom of the fourth when designated-hitter Miller Green was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
McCracken County grabbed the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth when Campbell County committed a throwing error trying to turn a double play. Zach Sims scored on the play to give McCracken County a 4-3 lead.
Ehling did not allow a baserunner over the final two innings and struck out four Campbell County batters.
“Ross did a really good job for us,” Hobbs said. “I thought he would have a really good outing and he did. I thought we missed some pitches that Ross could’ve got early and then they get a timely hit. I thought the lefty-lefty matchup with Caleb is what we had to do in that inning to keep the game close. I knew if we kept it within one or two runs we were going to have a shot and keep striking. Caleb has been a dog all year. Ross is a dog. And the great thing is both of those guys are sophomores. I’m just so proud of our entire pitching staff all season and our entire baseball team.”
Saturday’s other night-session quarterfinal
St. Xavier 13, Central Hardin 0: St. Xavier is back in the state semifinals for the first time since winning the championship in 2018 following an explosive win over Central Hardin.
The Tigers (32-10) scored multiple runs in four of the first five innings, including a five-run fifth inning, to put the run-rule into effect.
Early in the game, the Tigers set the tone by scoring their first five runs on two-out hits and finished the game with eight runs batted in with two outs.
“We’ve got a gold board in our locker room and two-out RBIs are definitely one of the magnets we put up,” St. Xavier head coach Andy Porta said. “To their credit, they’ve done a pretty consistent job this year of a lot of two-out RBIs and that’s nice.”
The 7th Region champions loaded the bases in the top of the first without putting a ball in play.
Following a leadoff walk to right fielder Zach Marks, Central Hardin starting pitcher Caden Alvey plunked the next two batters to put St. Xavier in business. Tigers starting pitcher Jake Gregor popped out in the infield for the first out, then Alvey struck out Landon Akers for the second out. But designated hitter Ryan Comella attacked the first pitch and sent a single back up the middle to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
The Tigers added three more two-run outs in the top of the second. Marks drew another walk and came around to score on a triple by Troy University commit Cooper Smith. Jake Bennett and Gregor followed with triples to make the score 5-0. Purnell was hit by a pitch and came around to score when John Paul Jardina doubled down the left-field line to make it 6-0.
Although the Tigers were in complete control at that point, they had a chance to do even more damage with Bennett at the plate with two outs. The senior catcher hit a long fly to center field that Chase Price caught to end the frame.
One of Central Hardin’s few chances to get back in the game came in the bottom of the third. The Bruins collected three singles to load the bases with two outs for Zak Spurrier. Spurrier, who fired a complete game against Corbin in the quarterfinals, grounded out to shortstop to end the threat.
St. Xavier tacked on two more runs in the top of the fourth on a two-out single by center fielder Jack Thompson to make it 8-0. The Tigers continued to pour it on with a five-run fifth inning. St. Xavier drew three walks, was hit by one pitch and collected four hits in the inning to take a 13-0 lead.
Gregor tossed four scoreless innings for the Tigers in the victory. A sophomore right-handed pitcher committed to the University of Louisville, Gregor allowed five hits and struck out one. Senior left-hander Quinten Shewmaker recorded the final three outs.
“I think (Gregor) would tell you he wasn’t super, super sharp but sometimes it is tough when you have a couple of long innings batting and then you’ve gotta go back out there,” Porta said. “It got to the point where we just needed him to throw strikes. Look, if a guy hits a home run, he hits a home run. But we didn’t need leadoff walks or him going deep into the count.”
Central Hardin, the 5th region champion, ends the season with a 29-10 record. It was the Bruins’ first loss since May 10 against Male.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our guys,” Central Hardin head coach Todd Thompson said. “They tried. It wasn’t for lack of effort that we came up short today or desire. We have a lot of young guys on this team and I hope this drives them and makes them hungry to get back here next year. And I want to thank these six seniors for getting us back here. Their names are going to echo through the halls of Central Hardin for years to come.”
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