The tone for Lyon County’s regional semifinal game against Henderson County Tuesday night was set pretty early in the game. Eli Baker took the first pitch of the night and planted it over the fence in left and then he struck out two batters in the bottom half of the inning as the Lyons steamrolled the Colonels 13-0 in a six-inning contest to advance to Wednesday night’s regional championship game at Lee S. Jones Park.
Baker’s shot in the top of the first was later followed by a monster two-run shot from Peyton Williams that extended the lead to 3-0. That one-two combination delivered a blow to the confidence of the Colonels that they would never recover from.
Henderson starting pitcher Maddox Golday gave up a pair of bases-loaded walks with no outs in the top of the second and was done for the night. Lyon County would add another run on a passed ball as the lead grew to 6-0.
Meanwhile, Eli Baker was dominant on the mound for the Lyons. Baker allowed the Colonels just one hit in the game and that came with one out in the bottom of the first. After that, Baker was essentially untouchable the rest of the way. He finished the night with 11 strikeouts and threw just 69 pitches during his six innings of work.
Lyon County added two more runs in the fourth on back-to-back doubles from Korben Lucas and Austin Spears, pushing the lead out to 8-0. The Lyons scored again in the fifth on a Henderson error to make it a 9-0 lead. Lyon County sealed the mercy-rule win with four runs in the top of the sixth inning.
For the night, Lyon County outhit Henderson County 10 to 1. The Lyons were led by Colton Prow, Brady Belt, and Austin Spears with two hits each. Eli Baker was 1-1 with 3 RBIs and a run scored. Korben Lucas, Austin Spears, and Peyton Williams added two RBIs each.
Lyon County improves to 20-7 with the win, which was the Lyons 7th in their last eight games. The Lyons move on to face University Heights in the 2nd Region championship game Wednesday evening at 6:00pm.
The last time the two teams met was a memorable affair. Lyon County scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to force extra-innings and then came back two more times to take a 9-8 12-inning win that gave the Lyons the All A regional championship on the Blazers’ home field. Lyon County would go on to win the All A Classic state baseball championship.
