Owensboro Catholic grabbed the lead early against the Raiders and never looked back on Thursday, while Owenboro’s offense was red hot as they extended their winning streak to seven-games to close out the regular season.
Owensboro Catholic vs Trinity (Whitesville)
The Aces put together a complete effort to come out on top in a Third Region battle on Thursday, limiting Trinity (Whitesville) to four hits in a 6-1 home win.
Owensboro Catholic set the tone for the game early, getting a leadoff home run from sophomore Brady Atwell in the bottom of the first. And the Aces kept their foot on the gas as well, scoring four in the bottom of the third and one more in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-0 lead.
It wasn’t until the top of the seventh that the Raiders were able to get a run—scoring thanks to a single from senior Nolan Mills and a wild pitch later in the inning—but it was too little too late as Owensboro Catholic claimed the 6-1 win.
Brady Prusz picked up the win in his three-inning start, allowing no runs or hits while striking out one. Eighth grader Lane Hundley followed in two innings of relief with just three hits and a walk allowed, while senior Jamison Wall pitched the last two innings and allowed one unearned run on one hit while striking out a pair.
Wall was also a leader at the plate, joining freshman Barrett Evans, Atwell and junior Houston Flynn with an RBI each. The Aces improve to 18-13 overall as the regular season comes to a close, as they now have some time to prepare for the district tournament.
The Raiders on the other hand fall to 7-14 overall, as senior Landon Huff had a rough day on the mound—giving up four earned runs on 11 hits and two walks while striking out three in four innings.
Owensboro vs McLean County
The Red Devils offense couldn’t be stopped on Thursday, catapulting them to a 15-3 win over McLean County on the road to close out the regular season.
Owensboro had taken an early 3-0 lead into the bottom of the second, but the Cougars took advantage of a couple of walks and errors in order to even things up at 3-3 heading into the third. The Red Devils responded swiftly though, getting a single and a walk to lead to a three-run homer from sophomore Blake Kimbrell to take a 6-3 lead with no outs in the top of the third.
The floodgates then opened, as Owensboro used a barrage of hits to amass a 12-run inning to take 15-3 lead into the bottom of the third. The score never changed for the remainder of the game, as the Red Devils held McLean County to two hits en route to the 15-3 win.
Senior Connor Hallmark grabbed the win in his two-inning start, allowing three unearned runs on one hit and two walks. Sophomore Trevor DeLacey followed by allowing one hit and striking out in the following two innings, while sophomore Will Rickard closed the door in the fifth.
Kimbrell led the way at the plate with a 4-4 day and five RBIs, while Hallmark, sophomore Brady Benjamin and eighth grader Gunnar Hendricks had a pair each and freshman Elijah Hampton, DeLacey and eighth grader Ty Ashley had one each.
The Red Devils sit at 15-10 overall with the win, now riding a seven-game winning streak into the 9th District Tournament.
