The 2016 Logan County Cougars—maybe the youngest group ever to play baseball for LCHS in their 34-year history—pulled off a big win last weekend in the Colonels’ Classic in Hopkinsville.
Coach Ethan Meguiar’s team knocked off host Christian County 5-0 with sophomore Ethan Smock pitching a no-hitter against the Colonels, who are always a Second Region power.
Meguiar knew his opposing coach well. He’s Lewisburg native Greg Shelton, who coached many years at Franklin-Simpson, where he earned a state championship and his Hall of Fame credentials. The two seasons before Shelton moved on to Christian County he was coach of the Russellville Panthers. Both F-S and RHS are in the 13th District along with LCHS.
Smock threw strikes on almost two-thirds of his 92 pitches. He struck out 13 and walked only one Colonel. That was freshman Wyatt Stevenson, who was the only CCHS player to reach base, since the Cougars played errorless baseball. He struck out senior Quinton Lynch for the final out of the game.
Michael Riley’s RBI single in the third inning proved to be the game winner, since Smock only needed one run. In the fourth inning, Kaleb Justice singled in Third Bell and Jackson Campbell. Justice added a third RBI when he doubled in Campbell in the sixth.
Riley and Justice each had two hits. D. J. Beard got the only other hit. Campbell worked the only walk off Colonel starter Sam Blane. Bradley Taylor, Dylan Penick and Bell reached on errors. Beard was hit by a pitch.
Cougars 11, Ballard Memorial 1
The Cougars were too strong for the Bombers, winning on the mercy rule in five innings.
Taylor had three hits with Riley, Campbell, Justice and Beard getting two each. Ashton Ross added a hit to bring the Cougars’ total to 13. Bell picked up the only walk.
The Cougars scored seven runs in the first two innings. Taylor and Justice each had RBI singles in the first inning. In the second, Campbell doubled in a run while Taylor and Justice singled for RBIs again.
Taylor finished with three RBIs with Campbell and Justice adding two each and Riley one. Taylor scored three runs, riley two, and Nate Woodall, Jack Wright, Koby Wall, Ross and Justice on each.
Senior Hunter Crafton pitched a complete game two-hitter. He struck out five and walked only one. He threw strokes on 61 percent of his 82 pitches.
James Roberts and Devyn Bledsoe got the only hits off Crafton, and Raeqwon Thomas the lone walk. Andrew Burton and Bradley Chandler did the pitching.
The Cougars, Christian County and Ohio County all finished the Colonels’ Classic with 3-1 records. Ballard Memorial finished 0-3.
Ohio County 5, Cougars 4
Logan County scored two runs in the first inning to take the lead. That came when Riley singled, advanced on Austin Rayno’s single. They both scored with Rayno coming home on Justice’s fielder’s choice. Taylor doubled in a run in the bottom of the second to make it 3-1.
The Eagles took the lead with a three-run sixth inning, coming on a sacrifice fly by Lawson Clayton and a two-run single by Blaine Gillim. The Cougars scored a run in the bottom of the sixth but could get the tying run home in the last two innings.
The Cougars lost despite piling up 10 hits. Riley, Rayno, Taylor and Campbell each had two of them while Justice and Nick Wooden added one each, but the bottom four in the order didn’t manage a hit. Campbell and Wooden worked the only walks off Ohio County pitcher Griffin.
D.J. Beard pitched a complete game in the Logan loss. He allowed only six hits and a walk. Only three of the five runs were earned.
Super season underway
Ohio County was the last team to beat Logan to date.
As of April 17, the Cougars had a 14-4 record, the best in the region. Warren East and South Warren also have 14 wins but they each have lost five games.
Meguiar’s team had allowed only one run in the last five games, and that came in a mercy-run rule win.