The Logan County Cougars are making a return trip to the Fourth Region Baseball championship game with a spot in the state tournament the prize to the winner. After Ethan Smock pitched Coach Ethan Meguiar’s team to a 9-1 romp over Russell County in Tuesday’s semifinals, the Cougars awaited the outcome of the second semifinal matching their archrival, Franklin-Simpson, and Warren East to see who the opponent will be.
That answer didn’t come until 10:15 p.m. when Franklin held off an East rally in the seventh inning and won 3-2, setting up a rematch of the 13th District finals.
Smock worked into the sixth inning against the Lakers, allowing one run on one hit and four walks while striking out eight. Nick Wooden came on to face six batters, getting four of them out. Dylan Penick then pitched to three batters, getting the final out against the third Laker who came to the plate.
Wooden and Penick could pitch in the finals. Wooden through 25 pitches and Penick 11.
Austin Rayno, Kaleb Justice and Penick each got two hits for the Cougars. Justice, Rayno and Jackson Campbell all tripled. Justice drove in four runs. Jack Wright, Penick and Wooden also added an RBI each. Third Bell, Wooden and Wright all had two hits.
Rayno and Penick each scored twice with Campbell, Wooden, Koby Wall and D.J. Beard scoring one apiece.
The Cougars will take a 23-10 record into the 6 p.m. regional championship game. The current seniors—Campbell, Justice, Beard, Wright and Ashton Ross, all of whom played in the semifinals—were eighth graders when the Cougars won the 2013 regional championship.
Franklin-Simpson brings a region’s best 30-5 record into the game, but two of the losses have been to the Cougars. The Wildcats, however, won last week’s district championship convincingly.
Smock has pitched all three games against the Cats, but won’t be available Wednesday. Neither will Rylan Thomas, who got the win last week and then again in Tuesday’s semifinals.
The game will be carried live and on the internet by WFKN radio in Franklin with Steve Thurmond and James Mooneyhan making the call with a decidedly Wildcat twist to it. The website is https://network1sports.com/station/wfkn