‘What a great year.’ 11th Region finals teams second to none in fun.
Lafayette and Madison Central came into the 11th Region baseball tournament as the two highest-ranked teams, but they might also be the two who’ve been having the most fun.
Both the No. 9 Generals and No. 7 Indians advanced to Monday night’s championship game with exciting semifinals wins for their families and fans on Sunday.
As to the fun the players themselves are having, look no further than Micah Cowen’s postgame interview for Lafayette on Sunday, where teammates ganged up on their 11th Region player of the year.
While Cowen was answering questions on camera, Generals players began stacking their hats on top of his head. Cowen broke a smile, but never broke his concentration on the interview. It offered the opportunity to ask Cowen exactly how many hats he wears for his team.
“I’ll take them all, baby,” Cowen responded. “We’re having so much fun, man. What a great year we’ve had, and we’re going to keep going. We’ve got to come out and swing the bats again and just play for each other.”
Cowen kept the hats balanced on his head until the interview was over, indicative of the role he plays for the team as its top hitter and pitcher. Cowen (8-1 with a 0.81 ERA) was scheduled to start Monday night’s title game.
On Sunday, he showcased his offense with a no-doubt two-run home run to left field that put Lafayette up 4-0 on their way to an 11-4 victory over Sayre.
“As soon as it hit the bat, I knew it,” Cowen said. “It had the right angle, right feel. You get a little bat flip and take a nice jog around the bases.”
Cowen finished the game going 3-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored as Lafayette’s second baseman.
Coach Chris Langston likes how loose his team has been all season. It’s indicative of everyone accepting the roles they play for the team and the importance they see in playing for each other, he said.
“They just enjoy being around each other and that’s rare when you come to team sports,” Langston said. “They’re happy when people have success, as you can see. They love giving (Cowen) a hard time, but they’re glad that he’s just playing well. All of them are playing well, so, I think, it makes it a lot easier for everybody.”
Lafayette has one of the chattiest dugouts in the 11th Region, especially when they are up at bat as players on the bench become hype men for hitters at the plate, not just cheering, but also poking a little fun at times — all in the spirit of keeping things loose.
“Oh, yeah, we’re having a bunch of fun,” Cowen said.
Madison Central also having a party
In the Indians’ two playoff games, it’s clear Madison Central’s players feed off their boisterous student section and take a backseat to no one in terms of keeping things loose.
For the last several seasons, each region tournament has been preceded by a ticket spending spree at Gattitown with the prizes won — stuffed animals, various inflatable thingies, etc., — becoming dugout decorations.
“The culture here is just incredible,” said sophomore pitcher Bradley Poynter, who threw a complete game in Madison Central’s 8-4 win over Frederick Douglass on Sunday. “It’s all about family and seeing this come together at the end. It’s beautiful, honestly, and I love to be a part of it.”
The student section had to be reminded a few times not to lean into the netting at Lexington Catholic during the game, but the excitement was hard to contain, especially when Nathan Storie launched a two-run homer that put the Indians up 4-1 in the fourth inning.
“It’s exciting, all of us getting everybody riled up. We like to get the other team rattled. We feel like it messes with them,” said Madison Central football player Zach Holbrook, who sat with basketball standout Kole Browne and dozens of others in the stands just behind home plate, cheering themselves hoarse and heckling opponents at every opportunity. “Our favorite is hyping up our guys and seeing their smiles and everything whenever they play good.”
Storie labeled the home run shot his second favorite of his career after his first home run of the season.
“At the start of the season we had some struggles, but we bought in together as a team and it got us to where we are now,” Storie said. “It’s just awesome seeing us come together and play good baseball.”
Coach Steve Roof showed his appreciation for the student support by inviting the ringleaders into a postgame interview.
“Madison Central is the best high school, we believe, in the state. Our students section supports every sport. So, it means the world to these guys,” Roof said. “And it’s memories that they will remember forever.”
Indians walk off
With their first-round game against No. 10 Lexington Christian tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Madison Central catcher Tyler Brook came to the plate with runners on first and third and one out.
Brook hit the first pitch he saw high off the wall in straightaway center field leaving LCA to only watch as the Indians’ celebration began.
“I’ve been put in that situation too many times,” Brook said. “I came through. I looked for my pitch. He threw it down the middle and I just put my best swing on it.”
The LCA-Madison Central matchup represented the hardest first-round game on paper, according to Prep Baseball Report’s power rankings, but the 11th Region as a whole is tough, Madison Central’s Roof said.
“It’s the 11th Region. There are five or six teams in this region (that could win it),” Roof said. “Both of those games that we played, it could have gone either way.”
Difficult loss for LCA
The Eagles have been ranked in the top 10 most of this season, but have the misfortune of being aligned in the toughest district in the state where every team in it — Paul Laurence Dunbar, Lexington Catholic, Tates Creek, Lafayette and itself — has won a state title. Their loss to Lafayette in the district finals set them up for a difficult first-round road game at Madison Central.
“Our team has just had a lot of grit to them,” LCA Coach Wynn Harris said after the loss. The Eagles rallied for two runs in the fifth to tie the game. “I felt like we were going to come back and make it a game and we did. The cards didn’t fall the way we wanted there in the bottom half and seventh.”
Lafayette’s no-hitter
In Saturday’s 10-0 first-round win over Madison Southern, Lafayette senior pitcher Josh Guilfoil threw a no-hitter against the Eagles.
Guilfoil struck out nine and scattered his four walks across four innings as his offense had a four-run sixth inning to cut the game short via the KHSAA run-rule. Ben Prather led the Generals going 3-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored.
Division I guys
The tournament has been a showcase for the area’s top baseball players, many of whom already had Division I offers or have committed to their schools.
Madison Central’s Brandon Anderson ranks among them as a Louisville commit. His team’s victories came at the expense of future teammates Jaxson Davis at LCA and Thomas Howard of Frederick Douglass. Louisville recruits heavily in the state, so there’s regularly an opportunity to play an opponent with a Louisville commit.
“It’s really fun because when we get there, I get bragging rights over them since we beat them,” Anderson said.
Sunday’s game against Douglass also featured Kentucky commit Julius Scearce who had an RBI single, and Eastern Kentucky commit Gavin Faulkner who pitched the game’s first four innings and had a 4-1 record with a 1.95 ERA in the regular season.
The other guys
While Anderson represented Madison Central’s major college recruit in Monday’s finals, both the Indians and Generals have a number of players who plan to continue their careers at smaller colleges.
Madison Central’s Aiden Carter, Carter Ruffner and Tyler Brook are all committed to Frontier Community College. Brady Vaughn is headed to Lincoln Trail Community College and Dawson Hall plans to go to Jackson State Community College.
Lafayette’s Cowen is committed to Centre, Conner Arnold to Transylvania, Jack Harris to Virginia Wesleyan and Ethan Tuttle to Spalding.
“To them, they’re at the spots they want to be,” Lafayette Coach Langston said. “I think a couple of them could be D-I, anyway, but they’re happy where they are and they’re just playing and having fun and that’s a big thing. They’re not putting pressure on themselves to try to be more. They’re just doing what they do.”
