No team from the 9th District has advanced to the state tournament since Apollo in 2015, and it could be another tough year in the 3rd Region.
Last season, all four teams finished the regular season 3-3 in 9th District action before Owensboro beat Daviess County in the tournament championship. It was the first time in six years the title game didn’t feature the Eagles vs. the Panthers.
The Red Devils’ last back-to-back appearances in the region came in 2006-07, while Owensboro Catholic hasn’t advanced out of the district since they did so three times from 2003-05.
Though Daviess County has made it to the region tournament six consecutive years, they’ll be looking to win it for the first time since 2014.
Apollo will try to make it back to the region under first-year head coach Mason Payne after Bob Mantooth retired from a long-time successful career.
Read below for a general outlook on each team as provided by the head coaches.
APOLLO
From head coach Mason Head:
We’re not focused on any one team, but district games are always fun because they’re for postseason seeding. I would say our biggest challenges will be staying focused for the duration of the season and trusting the plans we set in place.
We want to get better every time our team gets together and compete to win every game. Baseball is a team sport. It’s the kind of game where you have to be able to rely on the guys around you for the team to be successful.
On his players:
We’ve got a solid core of guys on our varsity team, and it’s going to take every one of us to achieve our goals. That said, we’re really depending on our returning seniors Josh Maddox, Trevor Payne, Jakob Helms and Andrew Pierce to provide knowledge gleaned from previous game experience and years in our program to help our younger guys develop quickly.
DAVIESS COUNTY
From head coach Brandon Dennis:
Our biggest challenges are always right here in town. All three of our district foes are well-coached and talented across the board.
As a team, our goal is to learn as much as we possibly can about the game and to bring that knowledge into each game along with a workman-like approach to everything we try to do on the field. With so many young men who are going to be gaining varsity experience, we are hoping to see improvement by adopting a renewed focus on fundamentally sound baseball.
On his players:
After graduating seven seniors, we have a lot of new players who will be given the opportunity to make significant contributions. We have a number of younger players who will be gaining varsity experience on the fly.
To be successful, we will need each and every one of them to step up sooner than later to give us a shot to compete early in the season.
OWENSBORO
From head coach Logan Johnson:
Outside of our district, we face several opponents that are either traditionally strong or coming off a strong season in 2018. Offensively I’m greedy, and I want us to score every time we have a runner on third base with less than two outs.
Our pitching and defense has carried us through a number of games in the past, and I’m ready for the offense to tack on runs and take some of the pressure off late in games. We have a more experienced team this year and I’m very anxious to see how we start out of the gate.
On his players:
Defensively, between Eric Epperson (SR), Isaac Humphrey (JR), Braxton French (JR), Cole Conley (JR) and Trace Grenier (JR), they cover a ton of ground and that’s very important because we play on a field with huge gaps. Tucker Hagan (JR) and Collier Higgs (SR) solidify our middle at short and second, while Nick Belcher (JR) is as strong defensively at catcher as I have seen at OHS.
Our pitching depth is probably one of our best assets. We have some arms ready to step up with at least seven guys who will see action on the mound.
OWENSBORO CATHOLIC
From head coach Derek Hibbs:
I think the top of our lineup and front of our rotation will be solid. For us to be competitive every night, we need the middle and back end of each to step up to create the depth necessary to consistently win. My expectations are to be in every game and have our team find its identity throughout the season so we are playing at our peak when the postseason begins.
We lost the top six hitters in our lineup from last season to graduation. It will be hard to replace all of their production right away, but we hope to do so with a large group of young players.
On his players:
Andrew Wiman (SR) will be the veteran presence in the lineup, and we have several freshman that will be counted on for producing runs. On the mound, we will be rely on Mason Grant (SR) and Hunter Small (SO) to go deep into games.
We also return Luke Scales (FR), Sam McFarland (FR), Finley Munsey (SO) and Everett Munsey (FR). Hitters to watch this season are McFarland, Luke Evans (FR), Scales and Finley Munsey.
