It wasn’t pretty early on, committing two errors in the opening inning, but Owensboro Catholic found a way to return to the 9th District Championship – beating Daviess County 10-4. The Aces will take on Apollo on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Owensboro High School Athletic Complex.
Jaxson White and Barrett Evans played major roles, with the former allowing just one earned run over 5 1/3 innings, while the latter finished 3-3 with three RBIs.
“The thing that makes baseball the greatest game it is, it doesn’t matter what your record is at all, there is never a favorite in baseball,” Owensboro Catholic Head Coach Jody Hamilton said. “The elements really came into play today, the wind, both sides. Baseball is a great game. It depends on the guy on the mound, and hopefully he can get the job done for you.”
Looking to play spoiler, Daviess County took advantage of two early Aces defensive errors to take a 2-0 first-inning lead. Owensboro Catholic threatened to respond in the bottom of the inning, but Weston Lawrence got White to pop up to strand the bases loaded.
The Aces found themselves with the bases loaded an inning later, this time taking advantage and scoring six runs. Mason Russellburg started the rally by scurrying home on a passed ball, and Mason Moser tied the game on a sacrifice fly. Barrett Evans put his team ahead with an RBI triple, and Alex Hood broke it open with a two-run single, followed up by a Russelburg RBI hit.
Evans helped ice the game down the stretch, driving in a run on a sacrifice fly in the third, and crushing an RBI ground-rule double in the fifth – pushing the lead to 9-2. As White settled into the game, the Panthers struggled to find any consistency at the plate until Bryon Jarboe drove in a run in the fourth.
Gentry Atwell took over on the mound in the fifth, allowing one run over 1 2/3 innings, striking out three.
For the Panthers, they finish the season 5-23 and are losing four seniors to graduation.
“This season we had a lot of guys who were getting their first crack at varsity baseball,” Daviess County Head Coach Austin Clay said. “A lot of guys were learning on the fly, and we saw a ton of growth from the beginning to the end of the year. The kids, to their credit, never hunt their heads and continued to grow.”
