Veteran Sayre baseball team ranked No. 2 in state and aiming for tourney glory
With 42nd District rival Scott County threatening to rally and possibly sweep their regular season series Wednesday, Sayre coach Kevin Clary didn’t hesitate to call on his ace to try to seal an important road victory for his No. 2 Spartans.
“I wasn’t going to lose with my best in the dugout,” Clary said, referring to 6-foot-6 senior right-hander Jaxson Howard, a Bellarmine commit and two-sport Spartans standout who’s 4-0 this season. Two of those wins came in relief appearances. “I just felt really good putting him in that situation.”
Howard took the mound in the bottom of the sixth inning with a 2-0 count against him and the potential tying run at second base and only one out.
Scott County had stunned Sayre 8-0 the night before at the Sayre Athletic Complex and scored a pair of runs in the sixth at home Wednesday to cut its deficit to 7-6 by chasing Spartans starter Pierre Kauffman and reliever Camden Stout thanks to a pair of walks, a wild pitch and an error.
Howard stopped the bleeding and slammed the door by striking out Scott County’s next five batters to earn his first save of the season and improve Sayre’s record to 16-3 overall and 3-1 in the 42nd District.
“I want the ball every single time,” said Howard, who averaged 17.3 points and 10.7 rebounds for the basketball Spartans last season and has a 1.59 ERA on the bump with a team-high 39 strikeouts. “I trust my fielders. I trust my batters. I trust my team. I love this team, and I did what we all do. We do our job. We win games.”
PrepBaseballReport.com ranks the Spartans as the No. 2 team in the state and clocks Howard’s fastball at 90 mph. Howard missed most of the 2024 baseball campaign with an injury, so he made sure to prep his arm this year while also helping the basketball Spartans to a 17-12 record.
“I took this more seriously, you know — senior year,” Howard said. “I started throwing earlier and made sure that I could do what I needed to do to help my team succeed. It was harder than usual.”
Clary has a veteran club, which also includes another two-sport standout in senior center fielder Charlie Slabaugh, a Columbia commit who leads the team in hits and led the 2024 Class A state champion football Spartans in rushing yards and tackles despite breaking his left hand last fall.
“I think we’ve played well, and it’s all attributed to our chemistry,” Slabaugh said. “We want each other to do well, so we put the team first. And when we do that, it makes it a lot easier.”
Clary was pleased with how his team responded to adversity this week and said when he gets juniors Gary Gibson and Blake Miniard back to full health, “I like our chances.”
Miniard hit .444 in eight games before going on the shelf with a nagging hamstring injury. Gibson has a strained knee that limits his availability to designated hitter duties where he’s excelled, nonetheless, with a team-high seven homers and 25 RBI.
“But I need him in the outfield and pitching. I don’t need him as a DH,” Clary said with a smile as he slapped Gibson on the shoulder.
Sayre’s only other losses have come at neutral sites to Louisville’s No. 1 Trinity and to Cantonment, Florida’s Tate High School during its spring break trip.
Sayre missed the 11th Region Tournament last season after reaching the region semis twice and finals once in the three years prior as 42nd District champions. The goals this year include winning the school’s first full-field region crown and reclaiming the All “A” Classic statewide tournament title they won in 2023.
Having already secured the 11th Region’s All “A” Classic bid, Sayre hosts No. 22 Danville on Friday in the small-school tourney’s first round.
“We always talk about being the first team to win both state tournaments, that’s the goal,” Slabaugh said. “But we can’t do that if we don’t beat Danville. They’re a good team, so we’ve just got to play to win.”
Friday
What: All “A” Classic first round*
Where: Chase Comley Field at Sayre Athletic Complex
5:30 p.m.: No. 22 Danville at No. 2 Sayre
* The remainder of the tournament will be played at Daviess County High School in Owensboro on April 26-27.
