‘A chance to go a long way.’ Senior-laden Sayre sets sights on baseball championships.
Two-time defending 42nd District baseball champion Sayre has set the bar high.
And with a group of seniors who’ve been playing varsity ball since eighth grade, the No. 7 Spartans have reason to believe their dreams of an 11th Region title and more are within reach.
Sayre Coach Kevin Clary doesn’t shy from title talk, but he also doesn’t want his team to be sidetracked by it.
“We talk every day about how you can’t play with the burden of expectations on your shoulder,” Clary said. “You’ve just got to be the best version of you every single day and the winning and losing will take care of itself.”
Sayre’s off to an 11-4 start despite resting ace starter and senior Kentucky commit Raymond Saatman until last week. Sidelined from pitching duties by shoulder tendinitis, Saatman threw two innings in a 12-1 win over Fern Creek on April 7 and four innings in a 5-2 win over No. 15 Frederick Douglass on Wednesday.
“I’m feeling good. I’ve just been taking it day by day and working up the pitch count week by week,” Saatman said after giving up two runs on three hits to the Broncos. His reliever Gary Gibson got the win. “Today my pitch count was 50. Next week I hope to move up to 75. I’m just glad my arm’s feeling good again.”
Gibson, a freshman, is one of seven Sayre pitchers to notch a victory this season and evened his record at 2-2 with Wednesday’s outing. Gibson broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning with his efforts in the batter’s box, however. His double to right scored the go-ahead run. Sayre tacked on two more runs for him an inning later.
“I tried to get my foot down, swing through, and I just drove it the opposite way,” Gibson said. “I’ve just been working as hard as I can to stay in this lineup. It’s a great lineup and a great team.”
Saatman hasn’t been limited as a hitter. He leads the team with a .457 average and has 16 RBI, including two on Wednesday. Sayre seniors Saatman, Dirk Visser and Addison Stockham are all hitting above .400. Fellow seniors Grady and Graham Johnson top .300 and sophomore Charlie Slabaugh averages .439.
That’s a potent lineup Sayre will need in an 11th Region that has seven teams ranked in the Prep Baseball Report top 25, including district rivals Douglass and No. 12 Henry Clay.
Douglass (11-5) has played well despite the loss of one of its expected starting pitchers, Leighton Harris, to a knee injury in December and its starting catcher, Jack Gross, to a broken hand this month. Harris is a highly regarded junior committed to Kentucky.
“We’ve had a couple of key injuries, but the young guys have stepped up and we’re playing well,” Douglass Coach Eddie Brooks said. “We’re surviving and playing hard. We just came out flat today against a good team and you can’t do that.”
On Tuesday, it took nine innings to settle Sayre’s first game against visiting Douglass with the Spartans’ Eastern Kentucky commit Stockham going toe-to-toe with Douglass’s Louisville commit Thomas Howard in a pitchers’ duel that was tied 1-1 until each starter was relieved in the late innings.
Stockham gave up one run on two hits in seven innings with nine strikeouts. Howard gave up one run on five hits in eight innings with 10 strikeouts and got the win after Brady Robeson’s leadoff double in the top of the ninth inning set up the deciding plays. RJ Parks followed with an RBI single to break the tie. Parks’ courtesy runner later came in on Clark Tackett’s sacrifice fly to set the final 3-1 margin.
“They threw a great pitcher yesterday and we threw a great pitcher,” Saatman said. “Unfortunately, they got us in extra innings, but to be able to bounce back today gives us a great chance going forward for the rest of the season.”
On Monday, Sayre defeated Lexington Christian 7-6 to win the 11th Region All “A” Classic championship. That earned Sayre’s place in the midseason small-school state tournament. The Spartans will face 12th Region champ Somerset at a to-be-scheduled time for the right to advance to the two-day statewide event in Campbellsville on April 29-30.
“We’re kind of getting our feet under us,” Stockham said. “We’re getting more confident. We were kind of tight at the beginning of the year … We’re a little more loose. ... This year we really feel we have a chance to go a long way and win it all.”
The LCA game came sandwiched between a spring break trip to Florida and two important district rivalry games against Douglass.
Sayre used four pitchers against LCA, but saved Stockham and Saatman for Douglass. District games help determine seeding for the postseason’s 42nd District Tournament, one of two precursors for the state tournament later this year at Kentucky Proud Park. Sayre finished 11th Region runner-up to Madison Central last year. Sayre’s priorities are clear.
“Both tournaments are important to us, but we really want the big one (state),” Clary said. “That’s no slight on the All “A” at all because we’d love to be a part of it too.
“But we’d like to be the first school to win them both in the same year.”
