“A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” 19th century poet Robert Browning asked rhetorically. He could well have foreseen what would happen to the Logan County Cougars Tuesday.
One strike, one routine grounder, or one catchable fly ball stood between Coach Ethan Meguiar’s team and a heavenly berth in the state baseball tournament in Lexington.
Then the sweet breeze that had been floating Logan’s Magic Carpet Ride was suctioned out of Whittaker Bank Ballpark.
Sophomore pitcher Caleb Bruner, who has firmly established himself as one of the best young pitchers in the state during this postseason, ran his tournament shutout streak to 22.3 innings before a hit batsman, a hard-hit ground ball that went for a double, an intentional walk, an infield error and a mental lapse turned what would have been an historic upset by the Cougars into a 2-1 win by Louisville St. Xavier, Kentucky’s second-ranked team.
For the third time in two weeks, Bruner pitched seven innings of shutout ball. In fact, it was no-hit ball. The problem was the Cougars had managed only one hit themselves, and the game was scoreless at the end of the regulation seven innings. Extra inning(s) would be necessary.
Logan scored first, tallying the game’s initial run in the top of the eighth.
The Cougars’ run came on two plays that were close but went Logan’s way. Senior catcher Dustin Cartas hit a high bouncer over the St. X first baseman that the Logan County scorebook called an error but the official scorer eventually ruled a hit. Although Coach Ethan Meguiar could have used a courtesy runner for the catcher, he allowed the baseball-savvy Cartas to run for himself. After sophomore shortstop Matt Harper bunted him over, senior outfielder Cody Hunt singled to right. Cartas rewarded his coach’s confidence in him by beating thehigh throw home for the game’s first run.
Leading 1-0, Bruner started the bottom of the eighth in control of his team’s destiny. After striking out Gunnan Wagoner, he got pinch hitter Andrew McConnell to fly out to senior Gage Hales in centerfield for the second out. The Tigers were back to the top of the order. Bruner jumped out to an 0-2 count on leadoff hitter Nick Stemli. He needed only one more strike to end the game, shock the state, and send the Cougars on to a quarterfinals berth the Louisville region representative had been expected to fill every since the brackets were drawn.
“I’m thinking about what kind of post-game speech I’m going to have to make to these guys after a heck of a season,” St. X coach Andy Porta later told media about the impending loss. “I thought we were dead in the water.”
Stemli, however, was crowding the plate, and Bruner’s inside pitch struck him. He went to first base, representing the tying run. That brought up one of the state’s highest ranked players, University of Louisville-committed junior Austin Clemons. He had his feet aligned to hit to the left side, and he hit it hard that way, powering a ground ball down the baseline with such force that junior third baseman Joe Holliday couldn’t react quickly enough to knock it down. Three pitches after the potential game ender, St. X had the potential tying runs in scoring position.
The Cougars decided to intentionally walk number three hitter Sam Springer to set up a force play at every base. That brought cleanup hitter Andrew Hubbs to the plate with no place to put him. Bruner’s first two pitches were balls; the third was a strike. The fourth proved to be fatal.
Bruner got Hubbs to hit a ground ball to senior second baseman Ryan Basham. If he had fielded it cleanly, he could have tossed to Harper at second or senior first baseman Thomas Miller for a game-ending force out. Instead he fumbled the ball and went down to his knees to corral it. Pinch runner Trace Amshoff scored the tying run.
Basham stayed on his knees, dejected that his error had given the Tigers new life. What he forgot, though, was to hold the runner at third. As he lobbed the ball softly back to Bruner on the mound, Clemons sped home. Bruner wheeled and threw to Cartas at the plate, but Clemons was already there and St. X had won 2-1.
The Tigers, who had been expected to win with ease, knew they were fortunate to win. “He (Bruner) pitched a whale of a ballgame,” Coach Porta told The Courier-Journal’s Jason Frakes. “He did not deserve to lose that ballgame.”
Meguiar told the press that Basham “got caught up in the moment. We couldn’t get enough communication to Basham to get up and get the ball to the plate, but I’m proud of my guys.” The Cougars were ranked 25th in the state.
Chris McGinnis and Ben Brown, who broadcast the game live over WRUS, noted that it was Basham who got the win with four innings of solid relief work in the regional finals. The Cougars might never had the chance to show how good they were at state had it not been for his work on the mound at WKU.
Holliday, who was eaten alive by what veteran Lexington Herald Leader sportswriter termed Clemen’s “ripping a hard shot down the third base line that was too hot for Joe Holiday to handle,” had been the Cougars’ best offensive threat going into extra innings. He managed the game’s only hit by either team in the first seven innings and reached base in his other two plate appearances, picking up two of the three walks the Tigers issued. The other base on balls was worked by Harper.
Cartas, a six-year starter behind the plate who has signed to played collegiately for Murray State University, was on twice. In addition to the eighth inning hit and run, he was also hit by a pitch. On defense,he threw out a would be base stealer in the first inning.
Bruner threw the eight-inning one-hitter with neither of the runs being earned. He walked five and struck out seven. He lowered his earned run average to a phenomenal 1.37 in 71 innings. His strikeouts-to-walks ratio (88-22) was almost 4 to 1 on the season. He gave up fewer than one hit and walk combined per inning.
“St. X’s pitchers were nearly as strong (as Bruner),” Frakes wrote in The C-J, which had as its featured sports picture of the day Clemons’ sliding into home as Cartas awaited the ball. The Tigers’ starting pitcher was Sam Melchior, who has signed to play for Western Kentucky University. He worked six innings, giving up no runs with the one hit to Holliday and two walks. Reliever Ben Britt got the win, despite giving up Cartas’ earned run on Hunt’s hit.
"You'll never see a better game in the state tournament than this one," the play-by-play announcer on the KHSAA internet television network said.
Travis Steward, who helps coach the Logan County Middle School team, wrote on Facebook: “Heading home from Lexington after watching Logan County play what will probably be the best game the KHSAA State Tournament will host this week.
Everyone should be extremely proud that this team was representing our county on such a big stage… Congrats to Caleb Bruner on an outstanding pitching performance and to rest of the Cougar baseball team and its staff for an exciting end to a very successful season. It just goes to show how much success you can be a part of when a team puts in the work, day in and day out, like these young men have this season. Never been more proud to be a part of Cougar Baseball. Cougar Pride!"
Former LCHS Principal and Athletic Director Bob Birdwhistell, who coached Bruner’s grandfather, Mike Brady, at Lewisburg High School, wrote: “Very proud of this young man, about as good as you can get. I know Granddad Mike is beaming and also trying to explain losing. It’s tough, but life’s lessons are often learned on the sports field. Big congrats to all the Cougars.”
Brady wrote, “I am so proud of Caleb and really feel sorry for all the boys in a stellar performance. He handled himself graciously after losing such a heartbreaker. All of the boys were good sports and Logan County can be proud of them.”
Another Lewisburg native, Lillian Gower Winn, wrote, “Despite being a St. X alum mom, I was cheering for my hometown team. I wanted this for LCHS as well. They made one heck of a show at state. Proud to be a Logan County hometown gal!”
Meguiar’s 17th Cougar team finished with a 26-11 record and proved to be an eye opener to baseball observers around the state. St. X improved its record to 34-4