After plenty of postseason success in recent years, the Owensboro Bombers will take their first steps towards trying to replicate that in the semi-state tournament starting on Thursday.
The Bombers have faced plenty of adversity this season, sitting at 3-7 after their first 10 games of the year. Owensboro swiftly turned things around though, finishing the regular season 15-9.
Head Coach Matt Freeman said it was the team’s offense that got hot as of late and has become a catalyst early in games, after struggling to get some continuity in the lineup early in the season.
“Like every team we have battled a couple of injuries,” Freeman said. “We were putting people in positions they were not familiar with and it took some time to get comfortable. The batting order changed frequently. But we have settled into a nice rotation now.”
Gavin Minyard has been one of the key leaders at the plate for Owensboro, being a steady presence in the middle of the batting order with a .348 batting average, 22 RBIs and 22 runs scored.
But it’s the Bombers pitching staff that has been the teams bread and butter, as Freeman said they have a group of kids that know how to throw the ball to both sides of the plate while changing speeds effectively. Coming off a successful postseason run with Apollo, Noah Cook picked up where he left off and has led Owensboro with a 3-0 record, a .538 ERA, along with 38 SO/9.
In order for Owensboro to come away victorious in the semi-state tournament, Freeman said that their pitching will need to stay sharp.
“For us to win this tournament we will have to limit the walks and errors while putting up runs early in the game,” Freeman said. “Our pitching staff has fed off of the early support building momentum on the hill as the game unfolds.”
With a vast majority of the roster having been on the last two state championship Bombers teams, Owensboro feels that they are more than ready for the challenges the semi-state tournament will bring.
“There is no question that success breeds success. We have several players that were on the last two state championship teams and played in the ALB national regional,” Freeman said. “The kids have confidence that they can play with the best teams in the country.”
Owensboro is looking forward to kicking things off today against Lyon County at 8 p.m., but Freeman said that the team will have one of their bat boys John Rue who was in a recent fishing accident in their thoughts and prayers as they take the field.
“While the team is excited to head into post season play, our thoughts are with a young man, John Rue, and his family at this time,” Freeman said. “John has been one of our bat boys the past couple of seasons. Recently he had an accident while fishing. Two of his friends pulled him from the pond and he was flown to Vanderbilt in Nashville for treatment. We ask the community to continue to pray for his continued recovery.”
