Eli Baker spun a gem on the mound and Lyon County picked up about as big a regular season win as you can get.
Baker tossed a three-hitter and struck out 11 as the Lyons upended No. 2-ranked Louisville Trinity 2-1 Saturday afternoon in the Mustang Invitational at McCracken County.
Trinity (28-6) trails only Lexington Catholic in the Prep Baseball Report Kentucky Power 25.
Lyon put up runs in the first and sixth innings to go up 2-0, then withstood a potential rally by the Shamrocks in the top of the seventh.
A one-out walk and back-to-back singles plated a run for Trinity and put runners at first and second. But Baker got the next two batters to fly out to center and right field, respectively, to end the contest.
Baker (6-1) threw 111 pitches — 70 of them for strikes. He walked three in the contest.
Junior Jakob Schweitzer (3-1) was almost as good for Trinity. He allowed just one earned run on six base hits while striking out six and walking only one.
Lyon’s run in the bottom of the first came after Austin Spears was hit by a pitch and Baker singled to start the frame. Two outs later, Aiden Waters singled into left field to bring in Spears and give Lyon an early 1-0 lead.
A two-out error by Trinity gave the Lyons an important insurance run in the bottom of the sixth.
Singles by John Bingham and Waters put runners at first and second with two outs. A ground ball to third off the bat of Brady Belt was mishandled, allowing Bingham to come around and score to make it 2-0. Waters also tried to score on the play, but was tagged out at the plate for the final out of the inning.
The two runs proved to be enough for Baker, who nailed down the complete-game win.
Waters was 2-for-3 with an RBI for Lyon.
Baxter Tedesco was 2-for-3 for Trinity and drove in the Shamrocks’ only run.
Lyon and Trinity had last met in the semifinals of the 2021 KHSAA state tournament in Lexington, with the Louisville private school taking that matchup 10-3.
The Lyons (18-8) took on Columbia, Illinois, following the win over Trinity but dropped a 5-1 decision to the Eagles.
Columbia’s Lucas Riebling held Lyon to just one run on seven hits while striking out seven and walking none.
A run in the first, two in the third and another in the fifth put Columbia up 4-0.
Lyon’s only run came in the top of the sixth, when Baker singled and later scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Waters.
Columbia answered that tally in the bottom of the sixth.
Peyton Williams was 2-for-3 for the Lyons.
Alex Schreckenberg was 3-for-4 and scored three times to lead the Eagles.
Lyon is next scheduled to visit Hopkinsville on Monday.
