YSE File Photo
The Christian County Colonels start the path towards what they hope will be a second straight 2nd Region championship Monday evening. Meanwhile, their three 8th District opponents will have other plans in mind as the 8th District baseball tournament gets underway at University Heights Academy.
The first game Monday evening will find the Colonels (21-11) taking on the Fort Campbell Falcons (5-20). Christian County handily won the regular season contests between the two, outscoring the Falcons 41-2 in the two games. The Colonels have dominated the series, having not given up more than three runs in a game with the Falcons since 2006.
Christian County’s pitching has been strong, especially in the second half of the season. Elijah Underhill is 5-4 with an ERA of 2.48 and 94 strikeouts. Aiden Lewis is 4-2 with an ERA of 3.16. Gage Montes has been consistent for the Colonels all season long. And, the surprise over the second half of the season has been the play of Eddie Davis, who is 3-1 with an ERA of 2.18.
Offensively, the Colonels have Underhill, Lewis, and Carter Sholar, all batting above .350 for the season. Gage Montes and Blake Boehman are above .300.
Fort Campbell is led by Jayden Swann, who is hitting .368 with four home runs. The Falcons have also had solid play this season from Adam Harrington, Ethan Egner, and Aidan Blaszkowski.
Pitching will likely be the area of concern for Fort Campbell. Only Blaszkowski has an ERA below 9.00 and the Falcons have given up 186 walks on the year.
The second game of the night Monday figures to a battle between two of the top pitchers in the area as Hopkinsville (9-17) and University Heights (14-9) will square off in a semifinal contest. With the ‘do or done’ status of a district semifinal, most expect to see Ian Tyler on the mound for UHA, while J.J. Thompson figures to start for the Hopkinsville Tigers.
The two teams split a district doubleheader on May 1. UHA won 8-2, while Hopkinsville won 10-3.
Hopkinsville has won the last two district tournament matchups between the two teams in 2022 and 2019. The Blazers last win over the Tigers in the 8th District tourney was back in 2017.
The Tigers have had their struggles at the plate at times this season. No Tiger is batter over .300 for the year. Lucas Kaetzel is the leading hitter for Hoptown with an average of .297. J.J. Thompson is next at .289.
Thompson and Kaetzel are also at the top of the pitching list for the Tigers. Thompson is 3-4 with a 2.73 ERA and 72 strikeouts. Kaetzel is 1-5 with an ERA of 4.08.
Pitching figures to lead the way for the Blazers in the postseason. Ian Tyler, Josh Pace, Bryson Turner, and Jackson Flynn, all have ERAs under 3.00, with Tyler having the lowest at 1.83. Not far behind them is Jaiden Miles with an ERA of 3.43.
Gavin Laronge and Ben Stone have been the leading hitters for UHA this season. Laronge batting .294 and Stone right behind him at .293.
Monday night’s two winners will play in the championship game Tuesday night at 6:30pm at University Heights.
