Logan County Cougar Baseball 2019 had an outstanding regular season. The Cougars finished the year with a 28-8 record. Despite losing six quality players in 2018, five of whom went on to play college baseball, the Cougars came back and won more games this year.
“ If you only define success in sports by winning championships, then we were not a successful team this year, but I don’t agree with that. We were very successful to finish the regular season with 27-6 record, and we saw a lot of players achieve the best years they could,” says Coach Ethan Meguiar.
“It was unfortunate we lost our last two games and the season ended much sooner than we would have liked. Getting the most of your kids and seeing seniors that have put in a lot of hard work have great years is a success in my eyes.”
The Cougars started the season with a blistering 12-1 record, only lost four games to 4th region opponents all year.
This year’s senior class was a part of 105 wins over their four years. The Cougars were 105-37 over the past four seasons. Those seniors were Third Bell, Dylan Penick, Jacob Smock, Chandler Silvey, Koby Wall, and Nate Woodall. All of these seniors had outstanding senior years, and they led the team all year long. Five of Cougars were voted all 13th District: Third Bell, Braxton Meguiar, Dylan Penick, Koby Wall, and Parker White. Wall was voted as a Senior West All-Star, and Meguiar was voted as Junior West All-Star and he made third team All-State.
Awards
Golden Glove Outfield: All three of the regular outfielders had great years defensively. This year leftfielder Jacob Smock, centerfielder Third Bell and right fielder Koby Wall all three won Golden Glove awards. None of the three players made more than one error in the outfield all year.
Golden Glove Infield went to shortstop Parker White, who was consistent all year with only eight errors at short.
Pitching: The Mark Thompson Award named after former major leaguer Mark Thompson went to Dylan Penick, who was the number pitcher this year. Penick lead the Cougars in innings pitched (51.2), strikeouts (67), and tied for the lead in wins with 7. Penick had a long road to comeback and pitch for the Cougars in 2019. He suffered two major knee injuries that required surgery in 2017 and 2018. He started the season very strong going 6-0 on the mound. Penick will be going to Vol State to play this fall.
ERA Award went to Parker White. White had one of the top ERA’s in the state (0.802) in his 43.2 innings pitched. He tied for the lead in wins with 7 also. Parker was very efficient, only walking five batters among the 174 he faced.
Rookie of the Year: This year we gave out two of these awards. The first went to defensive specialist Blake Wood, who played third, short and second, all very well for the Cougars while also doing a good job on the mound. Wood pitched in 10 games with a 3-1 record and recording 1 save. His ERA was 1.50 in his 23.1 innings pitched. The other award went to Zach Yates, who was mostly used as a hitter. Yates hit .276, getting 21 hits, 6 doubles and 13 RBIs.
Offense: The Offensive Award went to Koby Wall for the second year in a row. Wall hit third for the Cougars all season. Koby hit .403 with 50 hits, 30 singles, 17 doubles, and 3 homers while driving in 39 runs. Koby had great years as a junior and a senior while playing numerous positions and pitching for the Cougars. Koby will be going to Lindsey Wilson this fall to play baseball.
The Triple Crown Award, which is given to the leader in homeruns, batting average and runs batted in, went to Junior Braxton Meguiar. Braxton put together an outstanding season at the plate, leading the Cougars in most all offensive categories. Meguiar hit .484 for the year with seven home runs, and drove in 46 runs. Meguiar also got his name in the state record book by hitting safely in the first 15 games this season and the last 19 games of 2018 for a 34-game hit streak, which is second all-time in Kentucky behind the leader with 38 games. Meguiar broke the school record for hits in a season with 60, and had 19 doubles. He stole 19 bases, led the Cougars in on-base percentage, and runs scored. He only struck out eight times in his 152 trips to the plate.
The Cougar Pride Award goes to a player who demonstrates pride in all he does, similar to a coach’s award. Nate Woodall received this award for the third year in a row. Nate was one of the captains for the team, and had a great senior year. He caught 35 of the 36 games played and finished with a .265 batting average, 26 hits, 8 doubles, 5 HR, and 34 RBIs.
JV Awards: The JV Cougars had a 16-2 record in 2019. The coaches gave out four JV awards. Macon Barrow (first baseman/pitcher) had 18 hits, a .439 batting average, four doubles, two homers and 21 RBIs and was 5-0 on the mound. Jaxon Hendrix (second baseman/pitcher) 14 hits, .389 batting average, two wins pitching and 2.1 ERA. Braxton Baptiste (outfielder), .379 batting average, 11 hits, a double and two homers. Sam Brown lead the JV in innings pitched 19.2 and games pitched in 9, and finished with a 1.06 ERA.
The team recognized all three coaches for their dedication and effort. Assistant coaches Kyle Wall, and Jordan Dobbs, and head coach Ethan Meguiar were honored. Meguiar was inducted into the KHBCA Hall of Fame this past winter, and he was chosen as the 4th region coach of the year for 2019. Also the Cougars thanked Sage Meguiar for her efforts in the concession stand, and Harold Yates for driving the bus. Special thank you to all the booster club and there help with getting the building complete.