‘Pretty dangerous.’ Henry Clay out to prove seedings don’t matter when playoffs begin.
Last year, Henry Clay entered the high school baseball postseason unranked and not favored to advance out of district tournament play. They proved otherwise, putting together a pair of upsets on the way to the region semifinals.
This season, the Blue Devils (17-10) are getting more respect with a No. 19 ranking in the latest PrepBaseballReport.com coaches’ poll and they’ve proven they can play with the elites with wins over No. 4 Sayre, No. 10 Tates Creek, No. 12 Woodford County and No. 16 Madison Central.
On Wednesday, Henry Clay earned a regular season series split with No. 18 Frederick Douglass as starter Giancarlo Gonzalez pitched a complete game in the 3-1 win. Kai Aoki’s two-run homer in the sixth inning helped seal it.
Aoki is confident his team can contend for the 42nd District and 11th Region titles.
“I think we’re going to be pretty dangerous,” he said. “We’ve got six or seven guys who can get on base in any at-bat. We have three or four pitchers who just come in and throw strikes and compete. Honestly, if we get hot, we’re going to win a lot of postseason games.”
Henry Clay Coach Jordan Tarrence constantly tries to hammer home with his players what he believes is the secret to success.
“When your pitcher goes out there and throws all seven (innings), doesn’t walk anybody and throws three pitches for a strike, you’ve got a chance to win at any level,” said Tarrence, who recently notched his 250th coaching win. “The defense is more ready, the dugout is more engaged, everybody’s more into the game when the pitcher is throwing strikes and making them hit it.”
Despite that winning formula, the ball hasn’t always bounced Henry Clay’s way. Tuesday, the Blue Devils suffered a 13-6 loss to the Broncos that locked Henry Clay in as the 42nd District Tournament’s fourth seed. When the tournament begins in two weeks, Henry Clay must defeat Bryan Station to get a chance at top-seeded Sayre in the district semifinals.
“We knew when the season started that there’s a lot of good teams and no matter what seed you get, you’re going to go up there and beat a really good pitcher,” Tarrence said. “That doesn’t change. Every single team has a couple of guys that are really good.”
Sayre ranks No. 4 in the state and on Sunday won the All “A” Classic state baseball tournament. Scott County has been ranked until recently and will face Douglass in the other semifinal. Semifinals winners each move onto the larger region tournament that includes the 41st, 43rd and 44th district champions and runners-up.
Tarrence doesn’t discount anyone’s postseason’s chances.
“Anything can happen,” Tarrence said, noting especially the unpredictability of the region tournament. “In a three-day tournament, I’ll take our chances with anybody, but you’ve got to get there.”
Lexington Catholic moves up to No. 1
Lexington Catholic emerged as the No. 1 team in the state according to the latest coaches’ poll released Tuesday.
Wins last week over three ranked teams — No. 22 Harrison County, No. 16 Madison Central and No. 9 Boyd County — plus earlier wins over the likes of No. 3 St. Xavier and No. 7 Paul Laurence Dunbar no doubt contributed to the boost up from the No. 3 ranking the Knights held for most of this season.
No. 10 Tates Creek took some shine off the No. 1 ranking with a walk-off seventh-inning rally over the Knights on Tuesday. The Commodores scored four runs in their last at-bat capped by Austin McGaughey’s two-run single to win it.
Lexington Catholic avenged the loss with a 5-4 victory over Creek on Wednesday that also secured the top seed in 43rd District Tournament. Zach Grigalis led LexCath with two hits and three RBI. His two-run single in the bottom of the fifth inning helped secure the victory.
Fayette Invitational this weekend
The annual Fayette County Invitational Tournament begins Friday and will include No. 15 Ryle, No. 21 Corbin and No. 25 Shelby County among many others in a showcase event.
That includes all six of Lexington’s ranked teams — No. 1 Lexington Catholic, No. 4 Sayre, No. 7 Paul Laurence Dunbar, No. 10 Tates Creek, No. 18 Douglass and No. 19 Henry Clay.
Each of Lexington’s six public schools will host games on Friday and Saturday. In all, 25 games are scheduled.
Among the marquee matchups: Henry Clay hosts Lexington Catholic at 6 p.m Friday. At 11 a.m. Saturday, Dunbar hosts Sayre and Douglass hosts Catholic. Each of those games could be 11th Region Tournament previews.
Fayette County Invitational
Friday’s games
Sayre at Lafayette, 5:30 p.m.
Campbell County at Tates Creek, 5:30 p.m.
Ryle at Bryan Station, 6 p.m.
Lexington Christian at Frederick Douglass, 6 p.m.
Lexington Catholic at Henry Clay, 6 p.m.
West Jessamine at Paul Laurence Dunbar, 7 p.m.
Shelby County vs. Conner (at Lafayette), 8 p.m.
Corbin vs. Cooper (at Tates Creek), 8 p.m.
Saturday’s games
Lexington Christian at Bryan Station, 11 a.m.
Lexington Catholic at Frederick Douglass, 11 a.m.
Sayre at Paul Laurence Dunbar, 11 a.m.
Apollo at Henry Clay, 11 a.m.
North Oldham at Lafayette, 11 a.m.
West Jessamine at Tates Creek, 11 a.m.
Lexington Christian vs. Bishop Brossart (at Bryan Station), 1:30 p.m.
Apollo vs. Campbell County (at Henry Clay), 1:30 p.m.
Lexington Catholic vs. Conner (at Frederick Douglass), 1:30 p.m.
Anderson County at Lafayette, 1:30 p.m.
West Jessamine vs. Ryle (at Tates Creek), 1:30 p.m.
Sayre vs. Shelby County (at Paul Laurence Dunbar), 1:30 p.m.
Bishop Brossart at Bryan Station, 4 p.m.
Conner at Frederick Douglass, 4 p.m.
Shelby County at Paul Laurence Dunbar, 4 p.m.
Campbell County at Henry Clay, 4 p.m.
Ryle at Tates Creek, 4 p.m.
District standings
With PrepBaseballReport.com Power Rankings
42nd District
1. No. 4 Sayre (23-6, 6-2)
2. No. 18 Frederick Douglass (16-10, 5-3) *
3. Scott County (16-11, 5-3) *
4. No. 19 Henry Clay (17-10, 4-4)
5. Bryan Station (1-18, 0-8)
43rd District
1. No. 1 Lexington Catholic (22-5, 6-2)
2. No. 7 Paul Laurence Dunbar (18-6, 5-3)
3. No. 10 Tates Creek (16-5, 4-4) **
4. Lexington Christian (13-9, 4-4) **
5. Lafayette (11-18, 0-8)
* Tie broken by virtue of Douglass having allowed fewer runs than Scott County in their head-to-head games.
** Tie broken by fewest runs allowed in district games.
This story was originally published May 4, 2023 at 7:58 AM.
