A monster top of the fourth shifted all momentum the Eagles way on Saturday, helping them outscore Daviess County 16-6 to advance to the 9th District Championship.
Apollo got right to work offensively, with senior Harrison Bowman opening up the tournament with a double. After stealing third, he went on to score on an RBI groundout from senior Dayton Brown to take a 1-0 lead.
The Eagles did have runners in scoring position later in the inning with two outs, but a strikeout from junior Josh Mayes ended the threat and sent it to the bottom half of the inning with a 1-0 lead.
Apollo kept its foot on the gas, starting a rally once again in the top of the third with a walk and subsequent single from Brown. Senior Nick Judd then helped himself with a big double to left, scoring both to take a 3-0 lead.
Daviess County senior Owen Payne’s struggles continued during the following at-bat, as he made an error on a bunt to leave runners on the corners with no outs. Following a fielder’s choice, Mayes laid down a picture-perfect bunt down the first base line for a single and a run to make it 4-0.
Payne proceeded to walk the bases loaded to end his day on the mound, finishing the day allowing four earned runs on six hits, walking two and striking out two in 2 ⅓ innings. Junior Ethan Ahart came in to replace him, getting a pop-up to short and a strikeout to keep the game at 4-0 Eagles going into the bottom of the third.
The Panthers took advantage in the bottom half of the inning, quickly loading the bases. Senior Brock Brubaker then laced one to right field, putting Daviess County on the board by scoring two.
Judd got a big strikeout in sitting down junior Layton Huskisson for the first out of the inning, but sophomore Lake Wilson tripled to center the following at-bat to tie the game at 4-4. Payne flew out center shortly after, plating Wilson to give the Panthers their first lead of the day at 5-4 going into the fourth.
However, Apollo quickly gave themselves another scoring opportunity by loading the bases with a single from Bowman off of Ahart and then back-to-back walks against sophomore Lake Wilson who came to the mound for the southpaw. Wilson’s luck didn’t change against the third batter he faced, walking junior Aiden Wells to tie the game at 5-5.
A squeeze bunt from freshman Sam Holder wasn’t corralled by Wilson, leaving everyone safe and giving the Eagles the lead at 6-5. A passed ball plated one more, before Mayes lined one to third where a diving stop kept it on the infield but didn’t keep the run from scoring to go up 8-5.
The next pitch Mayes stole second and the throw down to second let another run score to make it a 9-5 game. Sophomore Easton Blandford followed it up with a liner to left to make it 10-5, before sophomore Noah Cook blooped one to right to end Wilson’s day on the mound.
The sophomore righty struggled for the Panthers, getting through just a third of an inning and allowing five earned runs on three hits and two walks. Junior Cason Troutman’s luck wasn’t much better on the bump, hitting Bowman to load the bases before Brown doubled down the third base line to make it 12-5.
With runners in scoring position Judd then hit a sac fly to go up 13-5, before Troutman was able to get a fly out to end the nine-run top of the fourth for Apollo. After losing the lead because of the five-run inning for the Panthers, Apollo Head Coach Mason Head told his players to focus on what they can control and to trust each other in order to battle back and it paid off.
“Be yourselves, trust it and play for each other,” Head said. “That’s it. That’s who we are… Trust the process, trust the guy in front of you and behind you and beside you is going to do his job. And when your number is up you do the job for the guys around you.”
While Daviess County was able to grab a run in the bottom of the fifth, the Eagles grabbed three runs over the course of the sixth and seventh to secure the 16-6 win.
Offensively Brown and Judd led the way in run production with three RBIs each, while junior Aiden Wells and Mayes followed with two each. However, it was Bowman who set the tone at the top of the lineup, going 4-4 with an RBI and five runs scored on the day.
Pair that with a solid job of recovering from a bad inning on the bump by Judd and Head was pleased with his team’s effort, but especially his upperclassmen.
“I love my guys,” Head said. “Great start. Harrison stinking Bowman. Leads the game off with a double and doesn’t look back at the plate. Did a great job defensively for us, he ran the bases well. He led the charge on offense all day. Judd had one rocky inning, but was able to put together four good innings outside of that. Really proud of the way he threw today… It was just a total team effort today.”
Apollo rattled off 16 hits on the day, but Daviess County had three errors and walked seven batters on the day to give the Eagles way too many opportunities offensively.
“We gave them like 20 something free bases,” Head Coach Austin Clay said. “They hit the ball well, took advantage of the opportunities we gave them. We just didn’t play well. It’s hard to beat anybody when you give them that many bases.”
Despite this Daviess County still had a strong day at the plate with nine hits, while Brubaker, Wilson and Payne all had two RBIs each. The Panthers season comes to a close with them owning a 21-9 overall record after being eliminated from the 9th District Tournament, but Clay has enjoyed coaching this team, watching how they’ve grown and will miss the seniors that are graduating.
“I’m proud of our kids,” Clay said. “A lot of them grew up a lot as the year went on. I thought we played good. Throughout the year they did everything we asked and you couldn’t ask for anything else as coaches.”
The Eagles on the other hand move to 20-12 with the win and secure a spot in the regional tournament with the win. However, Apollo has its eyes on a 9th District Championship matchup with Owensboro Catholic at 7 p.m. on Tuesday first.
“Tuesday first,” Head said. “We take it one game at a time. We lock in to Tuesday afternoon whatever time the game is going to be and we worry about Saturday after Tuesday.”
