The Logan County Cougars beat two highly respected 14th District baseball teams on consecutive days this week, but for the most part the victories were very different.
First came a 4-0 win over Bowling Green in an extra inning on Monday. Then on Tuesday, Coach Ethan Meguiar’s team outscored South Warren 17-10.
One thing that was very similar is the power-hitting of senior first baseman Kaleb Justice. He hit a grand slam in both games.
In that win over Bowling Green, Dylan Penick pitched an 8-inning shutout in a 4-0 win. The sophomore allowed three hits and four walks while striking out nine. He got Trevor Dennis to hit into a force out to end the game after eight innings.
The Cougars managed only four hits themselves. Bradley Taylor, Austin Rayno and Jackson Campbell scored on Justice’s blast. Campbell got a pair of singles and a walk in a productive outing. Nick Wooden got the other Cougar hit. Third Bell, Taylor and Rayno joined Campbell in earning a base on balls.
The win came on the Cougars’ fourth shutout in six games. Logan(19-7) had also shut out BGH (19-11) 6-0 in their fourth game of the season. Former WKU head baseball coach Matt Myers is the Purples’ coach.
Logan Bowen pitched well in regulation for the Purples but took the loss in the extra inning. Joe Howard hit a double for BGH, and Luke Brown, who pitched in relief following Justice’s home run, joined Jackson Stahl in getting the only other hits for the home team.
Cougars 17, South Warren 10
The sixth inning provided a sample of this entire game with each team scoring five runs. Cougar pitching gave up a two-run single to Evans and a three-run homer to Smith in this inning, but Logan County countered with RBI singles by Justice and Bell and a three-run double by Wooden in the bottom half of the frame.
Justice hit another grand slam in the fourth inning off Zack Beckner, and Campbell also homered in the fifth. Justice went three for four with six RBIs, one coming on a sacrifice fly. Rayno went four for five with three doubles and a triple, scoring five runs and hitting for 10 total bases. He also stole a base, as did Taylor.
Campbell and Jack Wright each scored two runs. Bell had two hits.
The Spartans hit Cougar standout pitcher Ethan Smock harder than any other team has. He gave up four earned runs in five innings on seven hits and four walks while striking out six. He also hit two batters. Wooden gave up five more runs to the Spartans in two innings of relief.
Clay Nohel and Jackson Smith each got three hits while Josh Vincent and Hunter Evans added two each for South Warren (16-18), coached by Chris Gage.