Heading into Sunday at the All A Classic state baseball tournament, the Lyon County Lyons knew that they were going to have to have someone down in the pitching rotation step up if they were going to win the state championship.
Brady Belt had pitched a complete game in the quarterfinals Saturday night. Eli Baker and John Bingham were both fighting physical issues that, while they could play in the game, would keep them off the mound in Sunday’s semifinals and then title game if the Lyons advanced.
Peyton Williams was slated to go in Sunday’s semifinal against Beechwood, so the Lyons were going to need one of their pitchers down in the rotation to come up with a big game if the title was to be theirs. Enter senior hurler Trace Walker. Coming into Sunday’s championship game against Owensboro Catholic, Walker had pitched a total of just 9.2 innings in four appearances.
Let’s just say that Walker will leave more than a ‘trace’ in the memory of the Aces. Walker came up with the game of his career when the Lyons needed it the most. He went the full seven innings and gave up just one earned run as Lyon County knocked off Owensboro Catholic 3-2 in the championship game of the All A Classic at Daviess County High School.
Walker allowed just four hits and just one walk in his seven innings. He picked up the win for the Lyons without striking out a single Catholic batter. A total of 58 of his 90 pitches were strikes and he faces just 28 batters for the game.
The Aces got on the board first when Jaxson White took one out of the park to right field to make it a 1-0 game.
The Lyons came back in the bottom of the inning and did all of their damage for the game. Korben Lucas led off with a single and then scored on a double from Austin Spears. Peyton Williams then laid down a bunt single to score courtesy runner Bryson Tubbs to move the lead out to 2-1.
Eli Baker finished out the inning with a double to score Williams and give the Lyons a 3-1 lead.
Meanwhile, Trace Walker kept right on rolling along until the top of the seventh. A single and then an infield error allowed the Aces to score and get the tying run over to third base with Jaxson White, who had homered earlier, coming to the plate.
This time, Walker got White to line out to end the game and bring the All A title back to Eddyville. Korben Lucas and Eli Baker were each 2-3 at the plate to lead Lyon County. Both of Baker’s hits were doubles. Peyton Williams, Austin Spears, and Baker had one RBI each.
Earlier in the day, in the semifinal round, it was Peyton Williams who did the job on the mound for the Lyons to get them into the title game. Williams went six innings, giving up two runs, one earned, as the Lyons took down Beechwood 6-2. Williams ended up with 9 strikeouts and just one walk during his time on the hill.
Hudson Phillips gave the Lyons one inning in relief to close out the semifinal win.
The Lyons took a 2-0 lead against Beechwood with a pair of runs in the second inning. Hudson Phillips and Korben Lucas had RBI singles in the inning.
After Beechwood tied it at 2-2 in the bottom of the third, the Lyons went back on top for good with a run in the top of the fifth on a fielder’s choice to make it 3-2.
A two-run single from Peyton Williams in the top of the fifth extended the lead to 5-2.
The Lyons then added an insurance run in the top of the 6th on a Beechwood error.
John Bingham, Korben Lucas, Peyton Williams, and Hudson Phillips had two hits each for Lyon County. Williams also had two RBIs.
The All A state baseball title now means that Lyon County has both an All A baseball and All A softball trophy in the case. The Lady Lyons won the softball title in 2021.
The Lyon County win also gave a sweep of the weekend to the 2nd Region and to the 5th District. The Livingston Central Lady Cardinals were dominant all weekend as they won the softball title for the second year in a row.
