Owensboro Catholic rolled past Edmonson County in a big 12-0 shutout to advance to the regional semifinals. After steadily building their lead across the first 3 innings, Deuce Sims slammed a big 3-run homer to kick off the Aces’ 8-run inning where they went through their entire batting lineup.
Catholic began their shutout with a big double play from second baseman Mason Moser to Christopher Burns at first to go into the bottom of the inning. Houston Flynn hit a lead-off single before stealing second to put him in scoring position. Brady Atwell then stepped up and hit an RBI single to allow Flynn to open the scoring at 1-0. The second inning saw the Aces keep up their tight defense as they had 3 quick outs to move into the bottom of the inning. Barrett Evans was walked to lead off, and Parker Heistand bunted out to move Evans into scoring position at second. Moser then hit a double deep to center field to bring Evans home and make the score 2-0 going into the third.
Evans then continued his work on the mound in the top of the third with three up and three down to move into the bottom of the inning. Evans only pitched for two innings before making way for Brady Prusz and Ben Hyland. Keeping a rotation on the mound is a focus for Aces head coach Jody Hamilton because he wants to keep all of his pitchers fresh throughout the tournament. His aim was to keep his pitchers at 25 pitches or less for this game so he can utilize them in the later rounds, he said.
“We did what we wanted to do, which was break the game up and keep everybody fresh for the whole tournament,” he said. “Barrett threw 17 pitches in 2 innings and Ben had 33, so he’s not eligible to throw tomorrow, but he can come back the day after. Then Prusz was under 25 so he’s good to go for us. It worked out well for us. That was the plan I had, so I’m glad it came to life.”
Atwell’s lead-off double set Owensboro Catholic up early on, and a wild pitch let him stroll to third. Another wild pitch gave Atwell time to cross home plate for a 3-0 scoreline. OCHS weren’t done yet as Burns and Evans were both walked to put runners on first and second. Heistand’s RBI single ran in Burns to give the Aces a comfortable 4-0 lead.
Catholic began their big 8-run inning by shutting down Edmonson who left runners on first and second. Flynn’s leadoff single got things started before Jaxson White was walked. Flynn and White both stole bases to put runners on second and third with just one out. Sims then became the man of the hour by hitting a bomb out to right field for a 3-run home run. With the score now at 7-0 and the Aces still on 1 out, a series of hiccups on the mound led to 3 walks and 1 HBP. This sequence brought Burns and Evans across home plate and OC to 9-0. Flynn hit a ground ball into a fielder’s choice at home to stop Heistand from scoring. However, the next at-bat saw White hit an RBI single to bring in both Moser and Eli Blair.
Owensboro Catholic kept it going from there as the lineup got right back to Atwell who struck out for the first out of the inning. He came back with a vengeance as he hit a pop fly towards first to run in Flynn for the final run of the game. OC walked 1 batter before closing out the game at 12-0.
Owensboro Catholic will play host Breckinridge County today at 8 p.m. Hamilton said their time in All “A” regionals and state helped the team get valuable tournament experience under their belts. It also gave them a chance to figure out their pitching lineup ahead of the 3rd Region tournament.
“It’s something that we can build on,” he said. “Our pitching staff was really young, even though we had some time last year. Grant Parson was the only guy pitching in our playoff games last year and we lost one in him. We didn’t have anybody, so the All “A” helped us figure out ‘who’ and ‘what’. It went really well.”
