For the second season in a row, the Lyon County baseball team fell one step short of the 2nd Region title game after a three-run 7th-inning wasn’t enough in a 9-6 loss to hosts Henderson County.
The Colonels topped the Lyons in the region semifinals for the second-straight year, improving to 17-17 to advance to Tuesday’s championship against the winner of the second semifinal between Christian County and Madisonville-North Hopkins.
Lyon County starter Austin Spears issued a walk to the leadoff batter in the bottom of the 1st and paid for it with a run after Cooper Vowels doubled to left field.
After a hit by pitch and a single put runners on first and second with one out in the 2nd, Turner Hurst delivered a two-run single to put the Lyons in front. However, by the next time they scored again in the top of the 6th, the Lyons’ backs were against the wall trailing 8-3.
Most of the damage was done in a four-run 2nd for the Colonels. A run came in on a wild pitch, and Dru Meadows followed with an RBI single to make it 4-2. Then, with two outs and the bases empty, Brennan Cates went deep for the Colonels to extend the lead.
Meadows started on the mound for Henderson and allowed two earned runs on a pair of hits with three walks and three strikeouts in four and a third. Dax Wilson came on in relief and allowed a run in the top of the 6th on Brady Belt’s RBI double.
Bryce Hayden restored the Colonels’ six-run cushion with an RBI single in the 6th, leaving the Lyons in need of a big rally in their final at-bat. After coming on to get the final out in the 6th, Reed Rheinhardt returned to the mound for Henderson to try to nail down the win.
However, after three walks and a run on John Bingham’s ground out, Rheinhardt gave way to Paxton Gardner. Brady Belt’s two-out, two-run double cut the margin to three, but Gardner coaxed a ground ball for the final out.
The Lyons season ended with a record of 21-10, the fourth time in a row they broke the 20-win barrier.
Spears took the loss after giving up five earned runs on five hits with a walk and a strikeout in two innings of work. Bingham went the rest of the way, allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits with four walks and seven strikeouts.
Belt finished three for three at the plate with three RBI, and Hurst drove in two runs.
For the Colonels, Meadows had two hits and three RBI, and Cates hit safely twice with two runs driven in.
