Hopkinsville’s Preston Chaudoin was his usual dominant self on the mound for the Tigers in Monday’s 8th-District semifinal, fanning 14 in a 6-0 victory over University Heights to advance to Tuesday’s title game.
A Murray State commit, Chaudoin entered Monday’s matchup with the Blazers sporting a minuscule 0.21 ERA over 32.2 innings. He’s allowed a single earned run all season while tallying 59 strikeouts and only issuing 11 walks.
The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st, with runs coming home on a pair of Blazer errors. After Hoptown added another run on Landon Cook’s double in the 4th, the Blazers put two on with no outs to start the 5th on Eston Glover and Ty Hunt singles. However, Chaudoin struck out the next three batters to leave Blazers at the corners.
A UHA error was to blame for two more Hopkinsville runs in the bottom of the 5th, and the last came in on Cook’s sacrifice fly in the 6th.
Chaudoin scattered five hits and didn’t issue a walk to move to 5-0 for the Tigers.
Zach Moss was 2/3 at the plate for Hopkinsville, and five other Tigers had a hit.
UHA’s Ian Tyler also pitched well, with seven hits, a pair of walks, and six strikeouts over six innings. Of the six runs he allowed, only three were earned.
Ryan Luckey had two hits for the Blazers, and Jackson Flynn, Glover, and Hunt each finished with a hit.
University Heights ends the season at 12-16 overall.
