The next stop is Lexington for the Lyon County Lyon baseball team, which outlasted Owensboro Catholic 4-3 in eight innings in semi-state action Saturday in Bowling Green.
Lyon will play Thursday at 5 p.m. Eastern time in the quarterfinals of the KHSAA State Baseball Tournament in Lexington against Whitley County, which defeated Raceland 6-5 in semi-state action Saturday at Morehead State.
The Lyons (29-7) never trailed in the semi-state contest at Western Kentucky University’s Nick Denes Field, but endured some anxious moments over the last two innings as the 3rd Region champion Aces rallied to tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh and had the potential winning run at third base.
But Jackson Shoulders got the next batter to line out to Brady Darnall in centerfield, sending the game to extra innings.
Lyon was quick to answer Catholic’s uprising.
Travis Yancy singled inside the left-field line and went to second when the ball was misplayed in the outfield. Pinch runner John Ryder Bingham took third on a wild pitch, then came in to score when Shoulders singled through the hole on the right side. That put Lyon back up 4-3.
Owensboro Catholic (32-6) put two runners on base in the bottom of the eighth on a leadoff single and a one-out error. However, Shoulders got ground balls to short and second for the final two outs of the game.
Shoulders (4-0) was the winning pitcher in relief of Austin Long, who went 5.2 strong innings. Long allowed just one unearned run on four base hits while striking out eight and walking two. Shoulders went the final 2.1 innings, surrendering two earned runs on four hits. He walked one and fanned one.
Shoulders was 3-for-4 at the plate and had what proved to be the game-winning RBI. Christian O’Daniel went 2-for-4.
Gunnar Bingham was 1-for-4 for Lyon, but drove in the game’s first two runs with a triple to the left-center gap. That came with two outs in the top of the first inning.
Lyon struck again with two outs in the fourth to make it 3-0. O’Daniel had led off the frame with a double. He came in on Darnall’s single to center with two outs to make it a three-run game.
The Aces got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth to make it 3-1, then came all the way back to tie it in the seventh.
Finley Munsey’s sacrifice fly to right was the second out of the inning, but it plated the tying run and left runners on the corners. But Owensboro Catholic could not chase home the winning run from third.
Luke Evans was 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Aces while Sam McFarland was 2-for-5.
Lyon was playing in the state round of 16 for the first time ever and will be one of just eight teams to head to Lexington next week.
