Unranked Boyd County stuns No. 7 Danville, Woodford advances at state baseball tourney
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Kentucky high school sports state championships
KHSAA state championships played out this weekend across four different sports in Lexington, and the Herald-Leader’s staff of writers and photographers covered all the action. Click below for highlights from the baseball, softball, tennis and track and field state championships.
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Boyd County senior Jake Biggs threw a one-hit shutout in the Lions’ 3-0 victory over No. 7 Danville on Thursday in the opening round of the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Baseball State Tournament presented by UK HealthCare at Kentucky Proud Park.
The unranked Lions started the season with three straight losses and seven defeats in their first 12 games, keeping Boyd County well off the state rankings radar. But things seem to have worked out since.
“We came in underdogs for sure,” said Biggs, a Pikeville commit who allowed his only hit, a triple, in the first inning and struck out 11. “Coach told us to just come out here and have fun. We went further than anybody expected us to winning the region championship, anyway.”
Thursday’s win over Danville marks the Lions’ eighth straight win and 15th victory out of the last 16 games. They entered the state tournament as the 16th Region champion for the first time since 2014 and claimed their first state tournament victory since 2005.
“It’s nice to bring Boyd County baseball back to where it should be — where it needs to be,” Biggs said. “It feels good as a senior class being the class to do that.”
After two walks to Boyd batters in the third inning, Luke Preston doubled to center with a hit the Danville center fielder appeared to have misjudged. Brad Newsome scored on the play, but Josh Kelley got thrown out at home trying to stretch for more. Still, it gave Boyd a 1-0 lead.
In the fourth, a double by Alex Martin and a walk to Jacob Vanover set up Michael Potter’s RBI single for a 2-0 lead. One batter later, Newsome squibbed an awkward grounder to first and beat out the first baseman’s toss to the pitcher covering with a head-first diving slide. As that transpired, Vanover came home on his own head-first dive ahead of the tag for a 3-0 lead.
Boyd threatened the more heralded Danville team in each of the first four innings, but aggressive base-running that led to players getting caught stealing or in rundowns could have short-circuited the Lions’ chances. A thwarted double-steal in the second inning got a runner thrown out at home to end the frame. In all, four Lions runners got taken off the base paths by the Danville defense.
But the recklessness was by design, according to Boyd Coach Frank Conley.
“One thing we did early in the year was we were reckless on the bases. And we were reckless on the bases to make sure they were aggressive on the bases,” Conley said “We were a little too reckless today, but at the same time we wanted to push that envelope.”
Boyd County notched nine hits and drew four walks against Danville pitchers Brady Baxter and Logan Smothers, both Division I college commits. That success buoyed Biggs’ confidence on the mound.
“When I seen we were hitting them, I was like ‘All right. We’ve got this,’” Biggs said. “That’s what I told them in the dugout: ‘Just get us a couple of runs and we’ll be good.’”
Danville (30-9) ranked No. 1 in home runs this season and was a top-10 team in hits, runs and runs batted in. The Admirals had not been shut out in 88 games, according to the Danville Advocate-Messenger’s Mike Marsee.
“It wasn’t one of our best days for sure at the plate and some of that had to do with their kid on the mound. He did a great job,” Danville Coach Paul Morse said. “He was exactly what we had scouted and we knew what we were going to get … (he’s) a bulldog on the mound and comes right at you.”
Boyd County (26-9) advances to Saturday’s 10 a.m. game of the state quarterfinals, where it will play Woodford County.
Seven-run inning lifts Woodford
Trailing 7-3 after five innings, circumstances didn’t look great for Woodford County against DeSales in Thursday’s second state baseball tournament game at Kentucky Proud Park.
That is until the Yellow Jackets took advantage of some Colts’ pitching woes and stormed in front with a seven-run sixth inning to take the lead. Woodford County went on to win 12-9.
“They believed they can win,” Woodford County Coach Paul Patterson said. “We’ve been in that spot before. … I don’t really know what to think about it. It was just one of those high school baseball games that whoever gets the last hit is probably going to win and that was us today.”
Three singles in the first four at bats loaded the bases with one out for Woodford to start the sixth-inning rally. Colts’ pitchers then walked in two runs and let another score on a wild pitch to bring the Jackets within 7-6.
Jabari Alexander came up with runners on second and third with a chance to tie the game. He delivered with a sacrifice fly to the gap in right-center that forced the fielder to make a diving catch.
“I don’t know what was going through my head, but I just know: ‘Get these runners in and win this game,’” Alexander said of that moment. “That was all that was going through my head.”
Then Justin Baker hit the first pitch he saw from DeSales reliever Evan Brite to put the Jackets ahead 8-7. James Hollon followed with a two-run single on the next pitch to make it 10-7. It was Hollon who started the rally with a single.
“We found some holes and hit some balls hard and next thing you know they catch a little bit of fire,” Coach Patterson said. “We preached to them all year — anything can happen. Keep battling. … One pitch at a time. One play at a time. Have a lot of fun and enjoy the ride.”
DeSales scored two runs in the bottom half of the sixth, but Woodford responded with another two runs in the top of the seventh after a walk and a single set up a botched defensive play by the Colts.
When Brandon Bishop struck out swinging, DeSales’ catcher Evan Hess couldn’t hold the third strike. As Bishop was thrown out at first, Bryce Patterson sprinted home and drew a throw back home that got away and rolled around the backstop. That error also let Collin Kemp score from second. Woodford led 12-9 going into the bottom of the seventh.
Woodford trailed 3-0 after one inning and saw their pitching ace, Cole Dycus, pulled from the game. The Jackets scored three in the fourth to cut their deficit to 4-3, but DeSales answered to go back up by four before Woodford’s monster sixth inning.
Woodford County reliever Taylor Penn pitched 6⅓ innings for the win. He allowed six runs, four of them earned while walking one and striking out three. He closed out the game by inducing a groundout to first after DeSales got a pair of runners on via an error and a single.
“The first round of regions, the same thing happened, you know. They scored some runs on our pitchers,” Penn said. “I knew we could fight back and we could always get it. All you’ve got to do is throw strikes. You’ve got to let your team work. I let them do that. And then we won.”
Hollon led Woodford County (25-13) with three hits and three RBI. Justin Baker added two hits, two runs and two RBI. For DeSales (25-15) Justin Wilkins and Jacob Crawford each had a pair of hits and two RBI.
This story was originally published June 2, 2022 at 6:42 PM.
