The greatest season in the history of University Heights Academy baseball is now one for the history books.
The Blazers saw their thrilling postseason run come to an end on Saturday with a 9-3 loss to Boyd County in the quarterfinal round of the 2026 KHSAA Baseball State Tournament presented by UK HealthCare at Legends Field in Lexington.
UHA ends the year at 30-9.
But it was a season that saw the Blazers win the All A Classic state championship. It was a season that saw UHA ranked as high as No. 3 in the state. It was a season that saw the Blazers rally from four runs down in the 2nd Region semifinals to beat Madisonville-North Hopkins 8-7 in extra innings before routing in-town rival Christian County 12-1 in the regional championship game.
And it was a season that saw University Heights win its first game ever at the KHSAA state tournament when the Blazers beat Wolfe County 9-1 in opening round action on Thursday.
Saturday’s game against Boyd County got off to a promising start for the Blazers, who were looking to create an all-far western Kentucky matchup against McCracken County in the semifinals.
UHA got to Lion starter Grant Slater for three runs in the top of the third inning to break a scoreless deadlock.
Slater, who is headed to the University of Alabama, entered the game with a 0.66 earned run average. The 16th Region MVP is also a first-team all-stater.
The Blazers had a first-team all-state selection of their own on the mound in Hayden Hunt. But Hunt ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth inning after a fly ball to center dropped in for a triple.
That opened the door for a four-run frame from Boyd, putting the Lions up 6-3.
UHA had taken the lead in the third when Cadence Gibson tripled home Ryan Luckey with two outs.
A Boyd error on a groundball by A.J. Hogart allowed two more runs to come in and stake the Blazers to a 3-0 lead.
Boyd (28-7) got two of those runs back in the bottom of the third when Alex Maynard doubled home a run while another run scored on a wild pitch.
But the big inning for the Lions was the fourth.
Jace Manning’s RBI triple tied the game at 3-3. A wild pitch allowed Boyd to take the lead. Conner Davis made it 6-3 with a two-out, two-run single to right.
The Lions then seized control with three more runs in the fifth.
Kaleb Kelley singled home the first run of the inning while Maynard knocked in two more with a two-out single to center.
That put University Heights in a deep hole against a powerful pitching staff from Boyd County.
Slater got the win and is now 5-0. He allowed just one earned run on three base hits in five innings.
He struck out five but walked four. Isaac Leeper blanked the Blazers on just one base hit over the final two innings.
Maynard was 2-for-4 and knocked in three for the Lions.
For UHA, Cadence Gibson was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Gibson was named to the all-state tournament team.
Hogart tripled and Jackson Flynn singled.
Hunt (5-3) suffered the loss. He allowed five earned run on six base hits in 3.2 innings.
Boyd County advances to face 1st Region champion McCracken County (33-8) in next Friday’s first semifinal game at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington. The late semifinal will pit 3rd Region champ Apollo (23-12) against Louisville Trinity (39-3).
