State high school baseball: Lexington Catholic rides fast start to win in opening round

Lexington Catholic’s Zach Grigalis connected on run-scoring doubles in both the first and second innings as the Knights jumped on Raceland early and held on for a 6-3 win in the opening round of the state high school baseball tournament at Counter Clocks Field on Thursday.

Grigalis’ first double capped a shaky first inning for Raceland starting pitcher Brayden Webb, who walked Lexington Catholic’s Griffin Cameron and Owen Jenkins to start the game. A balk moved both runners into scoring position for Harrison Tibe. Tibe’s grounder to second slipped under the Rams’ fielder’s glove for an error that scored Cameron and Jenkins for a 2-0 lead.

Grigalis’ smash to left-center then brought Tibe home from first base.

“I saw a curve ball on the first pitch, and I kind of new he was going to come back to it,” Grigalis said of his first double. “I just waited back and took it to the opposite field.”

Both Cameron and Grigalis delivered RBI doubles in the second inning around a run-scoring grounder by Tibe as the Knights took a 6-0 lead.

LexCath starter Pierre Kauffmann appreciated the fast start by his offense.

“I felt real comfortable, but you can’t get too comfortable. … You’ve got to stay locked in,” Kauffmann said. “My fastball was there, my curveball was there a little bit and my two-seamer was really there for the lefties.”

Kauffman pitched 5⅓ innings, allowing one run on six hits with three strikeouts.

Raceland’s first run came in the fifth inning as Jeremy Kerns singled and advanced all the way to third on a throwing error by the LexCath third baseman. Connor Hughes singled up the middle to score Kerns but got caught in a rundown for the final out of the inning.

Knights freshman Cody Decker relieved Kauffmann after the Tigers put two runners on with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Decker got a foul out to third and a groundout to second to escape the jam.

With Raceland needing five runs to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Rams loaded the bases with no outs against Decker on back-to-back singles by Webb and Connor Thacker and a walk to Kerns. Connor Hughes’ grounder into a fielder’s choice scored a run to cut the LexCath lead to 6-2. A Parker Fannin groundout to first scored another run but left Raceland with only one out to work with.

Decker calmly got Clay Coldiron to ground out to second baseman Jackson Wasik to end the game. LexCath Coach Scott Downs said he had confidence Decker could resolve the sticky situation he helped create late.

“I’ve got confidence in all of our pitchers, and he’s been throwing the ball well,” Downs said. “They’ve been horses for us, so we’re going to ride them.”

While Downs liked the hot start by his offense, he’d hoped the Knights would add to the lead.

“We’ve fallen into a trap where we’ve gotten off to a good start and just coast,” Downs said. “We’ve got to keep the foot on the gas.”

Downs wasn’t surprised Raceland rallied to make it close.

“There’s 16 teams left. We all deserve to be here,” he said. “Nobody’s going to lay down for anybody.”

Thursday’s other games

Eastern 7, Bullitt East 5: Eastern’s Carson Shee hit a two-run inside the park home run in the top of the 11th inning to help the Eagles overcome a tenacious Bullitt East team that had been down to its last strike before tying the game in the bottom of the seventh.

Shee’s shot deep into the left-center gap also scored Ben Brown, who walked to lead off the 11th.

The stunning play capped a back-and-forth contest that Bullitt East led 2-0 after five innings, only to cede a four-run sixth inning to Eastern. The Chargers tied the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth but again gave the lead back to the Chargers 5-4 in the top of the seventh.

With a runner on first and two out in the bottom of the seventh, Bullitt East’s Luke Renfro faced a 3-2 count and doubled down the left field line to score Jack Willard and send the game into extra innings.

Landon Waugh pitched the final three innings for Eastern, striking out four to claim the win. Bullitt East’s Chris Logan took the loss.

Shelby County 3, McCracken County 0: Shelby County’s Rockets fired for two runs in the first inning and pitchers Kemper Whisman and Hunger Cook made it stand by combining for a three-hit shutout of 1st Region perennial contender McCracken County.

Shelby County’s Carter White led off the bottom of the first with a single and came home on a triple to left field by Whisman. Foster Whisman, the starting pitcher’s brother and battery mate, then hit a sacrifice fly for the 2-0 lead.

Kemper Whisman pitched five innings, allowing just two hits with three strikeouts and a walk for the win. Cook allowed one hit in his two innings of relief, striking out two, including the final Mustangs batter, for the save.

Ranked No. 17 in the final regular-season PrepBaseballReport.com Power Rankings the Rockets (30-9) knocked out No. 5 McCracken County (28-11), who have reached the state tournament every year of their existence since 2014 and finished state runner-up last season.

Apollo 3, Beechwood 0: Sam Holder rocketed a three-run triple to the left-center field gap with two outs in the top of the sixth inning to break up the pitchers’ duel.

Beechwood (27-9) starter Matthew Kappes had nearly worked out of the bases-loaded jam when Holder stepped up.

Garrett Lanham led off the sixth with a single and advanced to third after a stolen base and a passed ball. He then narrowly escaped being tagged out at third base in a rundown as Grayson Smith grounded to third and reached on a fielder’s choice. Smith advanced to second while the rundown was in play. An intentional walk to Will Strode set up a force play at home for the next batter and then Kappes got Easton Blandford to line out to left for the second out ahead of Holder’s clutch hit.

Strode came on in relief of starter Noah Cook and struck out two with a walk for the save for Apollo (24-12). Cook scattered four hits with two walks and struck out four for the win.

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

Thursday’s games

Eastern 7, Bullitt East 5

Shelby County 3, McCracken County 0

Lexington Catholic 6, Raceland 3

Apollo 3, Beechwood 0

Friday’s games

Whitley County 4, LaRue County 3

South Warren 4, Breathitt County 3

Harrison County 2, Pikeville 1

Henderson County 6, Pulaski County 1

Saturday’s quarterfinals

10 a.m.: Eastern (28-12) vs. Shelby County (30-9)

1:30 p.m.: Lexington Catholic (30-9) vs. Apollo (24-12)

5 p.m.: Harrison County (32-8) vs. Henderson County (19-17)

8:30 p.m.: Whitley County (36-4) vs. South Warren (27-9)

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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