In three wins in the All A Classic state baseball tournament, including a sectional win over Carlisle County, the Lyon County Lyons used quick starts to post their victories.
That formula was flipped in Sunday’s championship game as Owensboro Catholic scored five runs in the first inning to erase a 1-0 deficit and went on to the 7-3 win over the Lyons in Richmond.
“For us, it’s a learning curve,” Lyon County coach Ricky Baker said. “When you play three games in two days, you just never know what will happen when you get into your bullpens and stuff like that. It’s just who is sharper and who is ready. Unfortunately today, we weren’t that team.”
Lyon County opened with a run in the top of the first but had to feel like they squandered some chances to stay close early.
An Eli Baker single and two walks loaded the bases. Korben Lucas singled home a run but the Lyons could not push across another run.
Eighth-grader Hudson Phillips came on in relief and gave up a three-run homer to Mitchell Sims for a quick 4-0 lead before Lyon could get an out. Two more singles sandwiched around a stolen base gave the Aces a 5-1 lead.
“I think it was just a snowball effect. We didn’t have a really good first inning, but when you put that first inning away, there was a lot of zeroes on the board,” Baker said.
Phillips settled down after the rocky first inning and kept the Aces off the scoreboard for the next four innings. He allowed just two hits after the first inning and struck out three.
“You’re asking an eighth grader to do that on a big stage. He keeps working his way up the rotation and has done a fantastic job this year,” Baker said. “When you ask an eighth grader to do that, and for him to not have any nerves, that’s huge.”
The Lyons had chances to chip away at the OCath lead but couldn’t find the timely hit that was common in their previous two tourney wins.
Baker roped a two-out double in the second but was stranded. The Lyons loaded the bases in the sixth but couldn’t score. For the game, Lyon left 10 runners on base.
“We just didn’t come up with timely hits. They did a good job. I thought the very first two games we played, we saw guys throwing 86 (mph)-plus,” Baker said. “They came in with a soft-tossing lefty, and it really threw us off. We were out on our front foot and didn’t make the adjustments timely enough.
Ben Hyland was the lefty for OCath. He held the Lyons to three hits over five innings and one run while striking out four.
Owensboro Catholic tacked on two runs in the sixth inning before Lyon responded with two of their own. Lyon loaded the bases and scored on a bases-loaded walk. However, OCath traded a run for a double play and a pop-out ended the game.
Baker finished with two of Lyon’s three hits. He was named to the All-Tournament Team after going 8-for-11 at the plate for the weekend with 2 RBI and a pitching win.
Owensboro Catholic’s state title is its fifth – tying Beechwood for the most championships.
Lyon County reached the semifinals for the third time in six years but was making its first title game appearance with a roster with no seniors.
“This is a very, very competitive bunch. They wanted it bad but came up a little short. But we know how to play the game of baseball. And we’ll be ready next year,” Baker said, noting other teams in Richmond will lose some key players to graduation. “We have another year to get better and get more experience, so I think we’ll be fine.”
Joining Eli Baker on the All-Tournament Team were Korben Lucas, Hudson Phillips, and Peyton Williams.
Lyon County’s school record 15-game winning streak ended Sunday as they dropped to 15-5. Owensboro Catholic has won 9 of 10 and improved to 18-5.
Unable to pitch the top of their rotation on Tuesday due to pitch counts from the weekend, Lyon County will play at Trigg County.
“There’s still a lot of baseball left, and we have a district game on Tuesday. So that’s where our focus is now and going forward,” Baker said.
Lyon County 7, Sayre 5
Lyon County moved into the championship game with a 7-5 win over Sayre earlier Sunday.
The Lyons broke a 4-4 tie with a three-run fifth inning, highlighted by a Drew Ritchie single and an Eli Baker triple – his third in two games.
Baker pitched out of trouble throughout the contest, getting the complete game win after reaching his pitch count against Sayre’s final batter. A double play in the final inning helped and John Bingham leaped high at shortstop to snare the final out.
“I thought Eli pitched really well in that semifinal game, pitched in and around a little bit of trouble, but seemed to get out of it,” the elder Baker said of his son. “Sayre was a really good baseball team. We had to really work for that game, really work for that game.”
Eli Baker struck out eight and allowed three earned runs in improving his record to 5-2.
Lyon scored twice in the second inning. Korben Lucas led off with a home run that cleared the fence in right-center field. Hudson Phillips later followed with an RBI single.
After following behind 3-2, Lyon retook the lead with a sacrifice fly and a balk.
Sayre sophomore Gary Gibson, who has committed to the University of Kentucky, was tagged with the loss, allowing six earned runs and 10 hits in 4.1 innings. He did strike out seven Lyons.
Lucas and Baker each had three of Lyon’s 12 hits, and Phillips had two.
