9th District Baseball Tournament gets underway today at Shifley Park

May 29, 2021 | 12:05 am

Updated May 29, 2021 | 8:24 am

Tyler Dixon | Owensboro Times

The 9th District Baseball Tournament starts today at Shifley Park with all four teams hitting the field for a chance to play in Sunday’s 3 p.m. championship game.

Top-seeded Owensboro Catholic and Owensboro hit the field at 3 p.m. today in the first semifinal while Apollo and Daviess County will play under the light at 7 p.m.

No. 1 Owensboro Catholic (27-5) v No. 4 Owensboro (6-20)*****
Time: 3 p.m.

Owensboro Catholic and Owensboro will start the first postseason game in nearly two years after the 2020 season was canceled.

Catholic comes into today’s matchup winners of three of their last five but before that stretch, the Aces won 20 of 21, including cruising by Walton-Verona for the All “A” Classic Tournament championship where they handed future Kentucky Wildcat Travis Smith three home runs in the first frame.

Owensboro won two of their last five with wins over McLean County and Muhlenberg County as the Red Devils went winless in the 9th District this season.

The Aces won both battles this season with Catholic downing Owensboro 13-3 on April 22 then by mercy rule again on April 27 in a 10-0 win for OC.

Catholic has three pitchers this season with six wins as Finley Munsey, Sam McFarland and Hayden Ward have been dealing on the mound as each has thrown at least 34 innings this season and all three have an ERA of 1.85 or lower with Munsey’s at 1.36.

At the plate, Luke Scales is hitting .463 to lead OC while Hunter Small (.419) and McFarland (.404) are also above .400 on the year. Braden Mundy leads the team with five home runs while Scales leads the Aces with 30 RBIs. Luke Evans leads the team with 42 runs on the year.

For the Red Devils, Connor Hallmark (3-4) and Ethan Gibson (2-4) have lead the way on the hill with Gibson striking out 59 in 36.2 IP while allowing just 12 earned runs.

At the plate, Gibson is hitting .338 with 17 RBIs and 23 hits on the year while Elijah Hampton (.310) is the only other Red Devil hitting over .300. Cayden Ray leads the team in runs with 17.

The winner moves on to Sunday championship game.

No. 2 Apollo (22-8) v No. 3 Daviess County (14-14)
Time: 7 p.m.

Apollo and Daviess County have the second game of the evening as the Eagles won the season’s only meeting between the two teams 5-4 on May 6 as it went down to the final frame at Eagle Field.

The Apollo Eagles have only lost back-to-back games once this season as they’ve been able to string together wins most of the year, including grabbing victories of seven of their last nine.

Prior to losing their last two regular-season games, the Panthers won four in a row, their longest winning streak of the season.

The Eagles have nine pitchers with at least one win this season as Will Strode (5-0), Tyler Payne (4-1) and Harrison Bowman (3-0) have led the way on the mound. Payne has struck out 33 batters in 34.2 IP and has an ERA of just 1.41.

At the plate, Nick Judd is hitting .412 while Bowman is right behind him at .398. Bowman set the single-season stolen base record for the Eagles this year as the season has swiped 34 bases on the season. Bowman also leads the team with 33 runs.

Dan St. Clair leads the team with 26 RBIs to go with three home runs.

For DC, Austin Curtis (3-1), Jackson Loucks (3-1) and Hunter Payne (3-3) have led the way on the mound while Curtis has an ERA of 1.46 to put him just ahead of Loucks’ 1.83 ERA. Payne leads the ream with 30 strikeouts in 36.0 IP.

At the plate, Decker Renfrow has led the Panthers all season as he’s hitting .455 with 45 hits, 35 runs, 16 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Zach Head is second on the team as he’s hitting .352 with 32 hits and 17 RBIs. Garrett Small leads the team with 33 RBIs.

Apollo and Daviess County will battle at 7 p.m. for the second spot in Sunday’s final as the two are poised for another battle.

May 29, 2021 | 12:05 am

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