District win gets All ‘A’ Classic week off to good start for Lexington Christian
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- Lexington Christian rallied for a 6-4 win at Paul Laurence Dunbar on Tuesday.
- LCA opens All “A” Classic quarterfinals Saturday at 10 a.m. in Owensboro.
- If LCA advances it would likely face No. 14 Beechwood in Sunday semifinals.
Lexington Christian rallied for a 6-4 win at Paul Laurence Dunbar on Tuesday, a good start to a week that includes the Eagles’ first appearance in the All “A” Classic small-school state tournament quarterfinals since 2021.
But the Eagles’ path to a fifth All “A” Classic state crown won’t be easy in a field packed with top 25 teams. LCA’s first pitch in the All “A” will come at 10 a.m. Saturday against Raceland at Daviess County High School in Owensboro.
If LCA makes it past the 17-1 Rams, it’ll likely face No. 14 Beechwood in Sunday’s semifinals. No. 7 University Heights, No. 10 Owensboro Catholic and No. 21 Campbellsville are among teams set to battle it out on the other side of the bracket. The winner will have to survive playing three games in just more than 24 hours.
“We’re excited about advancing in the All ‘A’ state tournament,” LCA coach Seth Knight said. “It’s a tough draw, but we’re going to give it our best and see how we do.”
LCA stunned Sayre, the 2023 All “A” state champ and four-time defending All “A” 11th Region champion with a 6-2 win in the region semis March 24. The Spartans had been ranked preseason No. 4 in the state by PrepBaseballReport.com and are No. 8 in its latest rankings.
“We had to come in with the same mindset we always do and take care of business,” said LCA senior pitcher Joseph Seigler, who got the start against the Spartans last month and got his second victory of the season against Dunbar on Tuesday.
LCA let a 2-0 lead against the Spartans slip in the fifth inning, but rallied with four runs in the bottom half of that frame to get the win. The Eagles topped Frankfort 6-2 the next day for the All “A” region crown.
In the All “A” sectional at Somerset three weeks later, the Eagles rallied for three runs with two outs in the seventh inning to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 win against Briar Jumpers ace Kole Grundy, a senior Georgia Southern commit. Sam Pearson’s RBI triple tied the game. Tyler King singled in the go-ahead run.
Tuesday’s win in the first of two games against 43rd District rival Dunbar showed some of the grit LCA (10-8, 2-1 in district play) has exhibited all season.
“I like their fight, obviously. We stayed in the game after we got down early,” Knight said. “We stayed the course, made some adjustments at the plate, were able to fight it off, and able to get a hit when we needed it.”
Dunbar (11-10, 2-3) rode a five-game winning streak into Tuesday night and took a 1-0 lead on three straight singles capped by Jack Sheets’ RBI knock to left field in the second inning.
Bulldogs’ starter Nick Sawyers struck out the side after a leadoff error eventually got an LCA baserunner to third in the second inning. But the Eagles took control with a four-run fourth.
The biggest blow came on a three-run triple to center by Jackson Gier, LCA’s regular Wednesday starting pitcher, who has been in and out of the offensive lineup due to a hitting slump.
“It was good to be back in the lineup and just find some barrels and see the ball better,” Gier said. “It’s just day by day.”
Gier’s hit exemplified the approach Knight wants his team to take every game.
“It was a really good at-bat,” Knight said. “We just talk about barreling baseballs. If we can find barrels all game, I’ll be happy. … He did that right there. He found the barrel, put a good swing on it and hit it really hard.”
Seigler, last season’s 11th Region pitcher of the year, allowed two runs on three hits in six innings and got some big assists from battery-mate and younger brother John Seigler behind the plate. John, a freshman, threw out a Dunbar base runner at third on a ball-four pitch to end the fifth inning. He then made a difficult catch on a pop-up foul by the first base dugout to end a bases-loaded jam in the sixth.
Dunbar scratched out a couple of hits in the seventh inning after chasing Seigler with a leadoff hit by Carter Erwin. Pearson came on in relief and let one run in on a wild pitch. He gave up two more singles, a walk and another run before settling down to close out the game with the tying runs on.
Regardless of what happens at the All “A” this weekend, LCA has secured at least a split of its first four district games with No. 9 Lexington Catholic and Tates Creek still to play over the next two weeks.
“I feel like we’re doing good,” Joseph Seigler said. “We’re battling in tough situations. We got a lot of good comeback wins, but we still got some things to do to string together wins. But overall, I’m excited about the rest of the season.”
LCA at the All “A” Classic
What: All “A” Classic Baseball Tournament at Daviess County High School, Owensboro
LCA’s quarterfinals matchup: Lexington Christian vs. Raceland, 10 a.m. Saturday.
Semifinals: 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
Finals: 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
Complete bracket online: allaclassic.org/baseball/
