When the Franklin-Simpson Wildcats come to Logan County this evening to take on the Cougars, both baseball teams will be on a roll, having won four straight games each.
These two programs almost always face each other in the 13th District finals and sometimes in the regional finals. They match two of the region’s most knowledgeable coaches in Logan’s Ethan Meguiar—a member of the state baseball coaches Hall of Fame—and Matt Willhite, who played several professional baseball season, some at the Class AAA level.
The Cougars squeaked by a good Barren County team 10-9 on Saturday, April 13, and then crushed McLean County, Ohio County and Daviess County last week by a combined score of 31-2. After an uncharacteristically slow start, they are now 11-11 and rated sixth in the region.
Franklin got district wins at Todd Central last Monday and Tuesday by a combined 31-1 score and then beat East Robertson 13-4 and Glasgow 13-0. Their record is 12-10, and they are rated once notch about the Cougars in the region.
Both teams feature a talented pitcher. Logan County’s Chance Sweeney, who has signed to play NCAA baseball’s Auburn University Montgomery, in six starts has a 3-2 record and an eye-popping 0.94 earned run average. Braden Engler has a 2-0 record on the mound, as does reliever Jacob Regan. Davin Yates leads the team in batting average (.329), hits (23), RBIs (21), homers (3) and doubles (6). Brady Hinton has a pair of homers and a team-high 3 triples. Kade Wall is tops in walks (17) and stolen bases (6). Samuel Hayes is tied with Hinton for the team lead in runs scored with18 each, and Hayes is 5 for 5 in stolen bases.
Wildcat ace Brevin Scott, who has signed with Murray State, has a 3-1 record with a 40-13 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a 2.13 earned run average. Scott also leads the Wildcats in hits and RBIs, both totaling 19. Layne Alford is the top hitter for average at .419. Braxton Jenkins has hit the team’s only home run.
These same two teams play each other tomorrow night at Franklin in the new district format again at 5:30.