
Baseball is a fickle game. Its ebbs and flows and games of inches are unpredictable. The ramifications of those fleeting moments can be incredibly impactful.
Twenty-three years ago, the University Heights Academy baseball team provided that cautionary tale. Despite defeating Webster County during their lone regular-season meeting, the Blazers heartbreakingly fell to the Trojans, 1-0, in the 2001 Second Region Championship.
Stifled by the mesmerizing curveball of 6-foot-4 southpaw Jon Newton, UHA was held to just one hit and five base runners during the defensive struggle. A pair of key double plays were instrumental in keeping Heights off the board and ending its campaign.
After playing a single season in 1986, and reviving the program for good in 1995, UHA has been playing baseball for nearly four decades. During that time, the Blazers have appeared in just two regional finals — those came during consecutive appearances in 2000 and 2001.
The squad in 2000 lost to eventual state champion Henderson County, 11-0, in that title game. A year later, after winning a second straight 8th District crown, University Heights exercised some demons by scoring three times in the bottom of the seventh inning and stunning the Colonels, 3-2, in the regional semifinals.
The Blazers couldn’t capitalize on their emotional high, though. After two days of delays due to rain and local graduation festivities, Heights eventually succumbed to Webster in another region final.
UHA hasn’t been back since. Fickle.
According to local news archives, Blazers field coach Brian Joiner took that 2001 defeat as hard as anyone. Led by five decorated seniors and a coaching staff that included Joiner, manager Phil Dunn and first-base coach Steve McGowan, University Heights was simply unable to manufacture a run in its final game of the season, the way it had in 24 previous wins that year.
Tonight, however, playing against crosstown rival and region tournament host Hopkinsville, UHA (25-11) has an opportunity to provide region redemption and earn the program’s first-ever state tournament berth. The Tigers (21-9), who are making their first regional final appearance in five years, were the 2nd Region champions in 2019. Hoptown is no stranger to that type of postseason success.
But for the Blazers, who are simply still searching for their first run ever scored in a regional championship contest, this is uncharted territory. Heights has already defeated Hopkinsville three times this season (by a collective margin of 19-12) and four straight times overall, but none of the matters in a one-game playoff.
When UHA hits the diamond for the 2024 Second Region Championship, they won’t just be playing for themselves. They’ll also be competing on behalf of baseball alums who got so close without the cigar. Guys like Michael Dunn, Ryan Joiner, Peter Starling, Josh Sadler, Jay Isom, Ricci Wagner, Dustin Isom, Adam Ross and Tyler DeArmond will be watching to see if the modern-day Blazers can tackle this fickle game and bring forth the glory so many have yearned for.