Four of the top five baseball teams in the Fourth Region, according to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s RPI, will play each other in the opening round of the regional tournament today (Monday).
That includes third rated Logan County (23-9, .59189) hosting number one Bowling Green (24-9, .64626) at 6 p.m. Logan gets to be the host team by having won the 13th District Tournament.
Fifth-d Franklin-Simpson (19-15, .55110), the 13th District runner-up, plays at 14th District champion Warren East (22-13, .57793).
That means the 15th and 16th District teams play each other to start the region. Sixteenth District champion Russell County has the number two RBI. The Lakers are the only team in those two districts rated in the top half of the Fourth Region.
Coach Ethan Meguiar’s Cougars are indisputably light years ahead of where they were two months ago. They have won 18 of their last 19 games, including 13 in a row.
Cougars win district
Sophomore Davin Yates, who has put together a remarkable athletic year in three sports, added to his resume with a sensational championship game. The Class A state quarterfinalist quarterback was the winning pitcher in relief and the top hitter on offense.
He pitched two and a third innings of middle relief, allowing one run on three hits and a walk while striking out three. He went three for three batting plus a walk, doubled, scored a run, added an RBI and stole a base.
Keaton Slaughter was the starting pitcher and Isaac Stanley closed the final two outs.
Senior catcher Connor Binkley homered and walked twice for three RBIs. Outfielder Kade Wall singled in what proved to be the winning run. Freshman Brady Hinton doubled in two runs and scored. Chance Sweeney singled and scored. Also scoring were Jack Delaney, Wyatt Blake and Harper Butler.
Cole Wix, one of the Wildcats’ ace pitchers, was the starter and loser for the Wildcats. He had three hits and Griff Banton added two hits. All eight of the Cats’ hits were singles.
Regional Notes
The winner of the LCHS-BGH game today will play the Russell County-Barren County winner at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at WKU. The championship game is scheduled at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Western’s Nick Denes Field.
The East team which beat BGH in the 14th District finals, had ties to the Land of Logan. Coach Wes Sanford Is the son of the late Ernest Sanford, who previously was in management for the John Deere dealership in Russellville.
His future son-in-law, Dalton Shoemake, is the East pitching coach. Dalton, a former WKU pitcher, is the son of Russellville High School graduate Paul Shoemake and the grandson of Lizzie Collins of Logan County.
East is moving to the 15th District next year, replacing Monroe County, which is headed to the 16th District.