State baseball tournament highlights: Lexington Catholic jumps on Mason County early

jared peck

Fri, Jun 7, 2024, 7:32 a.m.·7 min read

Lexington Catholic might not have won its baseball state tournament opener in the first inning on Thursday night, but the Knights’ offense and defense sent a message early.

Three runs on singles by Cody Decker and Zach Rayyan and a double by Burkley Bounds staked the 11th Region champions to a 3-0 lead against Mason County at Legends Field.

But the 10th Region champs looked poised to answer in their half of the first when leadoff hitter Connor Butler hit the first pitch he saw to right-center for a triple. The next pitch from LexCath’s Bounds hit Mason’s Landon Scilley to put runners on first and third with no one out.

It only took one more pitch to swing the momentum back to the Knights.

LexCath junior catcher Owen Jenkins caught it and rose from his crouch to fire the ball to second baseman Max Daugherty in time to cut down Scilley’s steal attempt. Bounds did the rest, getting a strikeout and then a weak chopper back to the mound to strand Butler at third base.

“When Owen threw (Scilley) out, I was like, ‘I know I’m getting out of this,’” said Bounds, a senior Eastern Kentucky commit. “I love these spots when the pressure’s on me.”

The Knights tacked on two more runs in the second inning and another in the sixth on the way to a 6-0 win against Mason County to advance to Saturday’s state quarterfinals.

M1. Lexington Catholic @LexCathBaseball jumps to a 3-0 lead over Mason Co. @BoundsBurkley with the last RBI knock to cap the rally. @KHSAA State First Round pic.twitter.com/Bf3wDLtbjn
— Jared Peck (@HLpreps) June 7, 2024

END 1. A Mason Co. leadoff triple and an HBP go for naught as Lexington Catholic’s @LexCathBaseball @Owen_Jenkins10 cuts down the attempted steal at second and @BoundsBurkley gets the next 2 Royals via K and 1-3. @KHSAA State First Round pic.twitter.com/popOHlNvqi
— Jared Peck (@HLpreps) June 7, 2024

LexCath’s ability to snuff Mason’s first rally attempt was key, according to Lexington Catholic coach Scott Downs.

“That says a lot about this team,” Downs said. “If we give up that run right away, you never know what they’re going to do. They brought their whole city with them and we kept them as quiet as we could.”

A fielding error started Lexington Catholic’s three-run first inning. Jenkins reached on a grounder to third and then stole second base to get into scoring position and set up back-to-back RBI singles by Decker and Rayyan. One batter later, Bounds doubled in Rayyan for a 3-0 lead.

LexCath’s Bennie Lawrence led off the second inning with a single and, like Jenkins the inning before, he stole second moments later. Jackson Wasik singled up the middle to score Lawrence and make it 4-0. Jenkins then tripled to right-center to score Wasik all the way from first.

“It was amazing,” Bounds said. “I don’t think I’ve had a lead of more than three runs all year in a game. So, I was like, ‘We’re winning this one.’”

Burkley Bounds rounds third base during Lexington Catholic’s 6-0 win against Mason County on Thursday at Legends Field.

Bounds gave up three of his seven hits in the bottom of the seventh as the Royals (20-16) tried to mount a last-gasp rally with two outs. But Bounds then notched his eighth strikeout of the night to end the game.

Lexington Catholic (27-11) will play their head coach’s former team, Pleasure Ridge Park, in the 8:30 p.m. quarterfinals matchup on Saturday.

Downs was the state’s Mr. Baseball for PRP his senior year in 1994 and helped lead the Panthers to one of their six state titles that season before going on to play at the University of Kentucky and in Major League Baseball, where he had a 14-year career.

PRP is coached by one of Downs’ high school teammates, Brad Burns. Earlier this season, the Panthers mercy-ruled Lexington Catholic 11-0 in five innings.

“It’s going to be fun. You know they put it to us earlier in the year,” Downs said. “(Burns) has done a great job over there. … They are back to the PRP ways and we’re going to have to play Lexington Catholic baseball to win.”

Jack White, left, and Tyler Nighbert cheer after a run is scored during Lexington Catholic’s 6-0 win against Mason County on Thursday at Legends Field.

Thursday’s other games

Russell County 4, Simon Kenton 1: Mayes Gosser’s two-run home run in the first inning provided the Lakers (31-10) all the runs they needed to take down the Pioneers (27-14).

Austin Bartrug got the win for 2⅓ innings of work. He was lifted after giving up three consecutive hits, including Daniel Uhl’s RBI single to cut Simon Kenton’s deficit to 2-1. Owen Loy came on in relief and closed the door on the Pioneers by allowing only one hit the rest of the way.

Gosser’s homer followed a one-out walk to Adam Walters.

Russell County tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning as a hit batsmen and two walks loaded the bases with Gosser, Aydan McGowan and Loy on board. Walker Stephens drew a walk to score Gosser. Ta Stringer hit a sacrifice fly to score McGowan.

Trinity 2, Pikeville 0: Jakob Schweitzer and Grayson Davis combined for a three-hit shutout of Pikeville (25-10) while aggressive base-running by the Shamrocks (37-4) helped put their runs on the board.

Schweitzer did most of the mound work over 6⅓ innings, allowing the three hits while striking out eight. But he gave up a pair of walks in the top of the seventh. Trinity’s Davis came on in relief and secured the save by striking out the final two Panthers batters.

Schweitzer also keyed Trinity’s offense by leading off the second inning with a single. Courtesy runner Caleb Ricks stole second and advanced to third on an Evan Boeckmann groundout. Ethan Dillon’s RBI single scored the first run. Dillon advanced to second base on a balk and then stole third. He scored on Travor Watkins grounder to short.

Pleasure Ridge Park 11, LaRue County 2: Brayden Bruner’s three-run home run in the top of the third inning sparked a five-run burst that broke the game open and helped the Panthers (37-3) get enough of a lead to fend off a late rally by the Hawks (19-18).

Bruner’s homer followed a single by Kobie Howard and a walk to Hank Burns. After another walk to Logan Strong, Kaleb Settle singled to set up a two-run double by Grayson Roll to cap the rally.

Roll, the PRP pitcher, pitched a complete game, allowing seven hits and five earned runs. He walked two and struck out two. A pair of errors in the bottom of the seventh allowed LaRue County to score three runs to close the gap.

LaRue took a 2-0 lead in the first inning as Ryan Hughes and Kobe Cahoe notched back-to-back RBI singles. But it was all PRP after that. Hawks starter Brayden Singleton was lifted after four innings. He allowed nine runs on six hits and six walks.

Roll and Bruner led PRP with three RBI apiece. Strong, Cooper Burkhardt, Settle and Asious Roll also knocked in runs.