As he has been so many times in his career, Christian County’s Elijah Underhill was the story on the mound and at the plate in Tuesday’s 8th-District title matchup with University Height Academy, tossing a no-hitter and blasting a solo home run in a 7-0 victory.
Underhill helped manufacture the Colonels’ first run, stealing second and third after a lead-off single and coming home on Aiden Lewis’ single in the bottom of the 1st.
He was at it again in the bottom of the 3rd, leading off the frame with a shot over the fence in left-center to double the Colonel advantage.
UHA’s Ryan Luckey drew a walk to open the 4th, and the Blazers put runners on first and second with no outs after Josh Pace was hit by a pitch. However, Ben Stone bunted into a fielder’s choice, and Underhill struck out the next two batters to end the threat.
The Blazers put runners on first and second in the top of the 5th, but Underhill got off the hook again with a strikeout and a ground out and struck out five of the final six batters to close out the no-hitter.
Christian County added two runs in the 5th and capped the scoring in the bottom of the 6th on a two-run error and an RBI single by Underhill.
Underhill won for the sixth time this season and second-straight in the district title game, walking three and striking out 13. He was also three for three with a pair of RBI to lead the Colonels at the plate.
Lewis and Jenkins each drove in a pair of runs for Christian County, and Bobby Irving finished with two hits.
Jaiden Miles took the loss for the Blazers, allowing three earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts. Josh Pace gave up a run with a strikeout in one inning of work, and Jackson Flynn came on in the 6th and surrendered three runs, two earned, on two hits with a pair of walks and a strikeout.
Christian County heads to next week’s 2nd-Region tournament as winners of 12 of 13 for a 23-11 record.
The Blazers slipped to 15-10 ahead of their first appearance in the region tourney in six seasons.
