State baseball quarterfinals: Sayre bows out to tourney-tested McCracken County
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- Sayre finished the regular season ranked No. 6 by PrepBaseballReport.com.
- No. 3 McCracken County defeated Sayre 6-1 to reach its third straight state final four.
- McCracken County will face Boyd County in Friday’s semifinals at Kentucky Proud Park.
It’s easy to forget Sayre has just recently become a high school baseball power.
Sayre only won its first 42nd District title in 2021. Crowned the 2023 All “A” Classic small-school champ, it didn’t win its first full-field 11th Region crown until last year. That team exited the state tournament in a first round loss to Taylor County.
But it’s no longer unusual to see the small Lexington private school at the top of the statewide rankings. The Spartans finished the regular season ranked No. 6 by PrepBaseballReport.com. Sayre’s first-round win on Thursday gave the Spartans another postseason milestone.
Then, Saturday morning, Sayre ran into a program that practically has a timeshare at the Baseball State Tournament presented by UK HealthCare.
No. 3 McCracken County, the 13-time defending 1st Region champion, topped Sayre 6-1 at Legends Field to advance to the Mustangs’ third straight state final four.
“Their guy threw a really, really good game,” Sayre coach Kevin Clary said after McCracken starter Josh Penrod allowed one run on three hits in six innings. The Mustangs’ offense delivered two three-run innings in support. “He kept his pitch count down, kept us off balance, and we just picked a bad day not to hit.”
Sayre gave McCracken cause for concern in the first inning when Gary Gibson’s high fly ball to center sailed over the McCracken fielder’s head and bounced to the wall for a leadoff triple. Elliot Jansky knocked in the Spartans’ only run with a groundout moments later. Gibson and Brady Lamonica had the only other two hits off Penrod the rest of the game.
“Man, that Gary Gibson kid’s a good hitter. I told everybody we’re not going to let him beat us, and he bangs a triple off the wall on the second or third pitch of the game,” McCracken coach Zach Hobbs said. “Penrod just settled in and really pitched well the rest of the game.”
McCracken didn’t sweat the 1-0 deficit. In the third inning, the Mustangs got comfortable against Sayre starter Banks Heinrich. They’d already beaten Sayre and Heinrich 7-2 in Lexington earlier in the season.
The third inning began with one-out infield singles by Brady Thompson and Caden Kern. After Kern stole second to put both runners into scoring position, Lucas Gagnon looped a liner to left field that Sayre’s Jansky misjudged on the hop. The ball rolled all the way to the wall for a two-run triple.
“I saw a straight single, and I was like, ‘OK, let’s go score one, maybe two,’” Gagnon said. “But then, he missed it, and I got all the way around. I think that was a big turning point in the game.”
Gage Reeves followed with a two-out RBI single up the middle for a 3-1 lead.
McCracken piled on three more runs in the sixth inning after Lane Grace’s ground-rule double ended Heinrich’s day on the mound. Heinrich was charged with four runs on eight hits and a walk. He struck out nine.
Gibson took the mound in relief and hit Colin Poat with his first pitch to put two on for Gage Dugan. Dugan singled in Grace. Poat later scored on a passed ball. Dugan scored McCracken’s final run on an error.
Gagnon said he never worried about the Mustangs’ offense.
“We score a lot more than one or two runs a game,” he said. “Most games, we score five or six. It feels like we just catch barrels and one run isn’t enough to beat us.”
Penrod stuck out five and walked one in six innings for the win. William Fox allowed a hit in the seventh, but got three groundouts to end the game.
While McCracken has never lost a 1st Region Tournament since the consolidated school opened outside of Paducah ahead of the 2014 season, the western Kentucky powerhouse has also never claimed the top prize. It has reached the state finals three times — 2019, 2021 and 2024 — losing first to Tates Creek and then to Louisville’s tradition-rich Pleasure Ridge Park and Trinity.
Hobbs quickly dismissed the notion that pressure to win a state championship might weigh on his team when the tournament resumes on Friday at Kentucky Proud Park. McCracken will have to beat No. 19 Boyd County in the semifinals Friday morning before concerning themselves with another state title opportunity.
“We focus on what we can control, and what we control is competing every pitch,” Hobbs said. “If we’re fortunate enough for (a state title) to happen, it’ll be amazing. But if not, it doesn’t change how hard these kids work and how hard these kids are prepared. We’re just going to play every pitch for every pitch, and where it shakes out, it shakes out.”
Sayre’s Clary kept the same perspective in the loss. His Spartans keep making history and keep setting the foundation for the next group to do more.
“I’m really pleased with the growth of our program. We’re taking baby steps, and hopefully we can knock out a championship one day,” Clary said. “We lose five seniors, and yeah, they’re a very integral part of our program, but our young group is really talented. We have high expectations for them as well, and we hope to be back.”
Saturday’s other quarterfinals
Boyd County 9, University Heights 3: The Lions (28-7) scored all nine runs unanswered after the Blazers (30-9) took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third.
Boyd’s Alex Maynard led the charge with two hits, three RBIs and two runs scored. His RBI double to center combined with a Cameron May walk and a Cole Adams infield single in the bottom of the third to cut the Lions’ deficit to 3-2.
Another walk in the fourth, this time to Boyd’s Josh Kelley, set up Jace Manning’s RBI triple to tie the game. Manning scored on a wild pitch moments later for a 4-3 lead. A single by Grant Slater and an error that let Maynard aboard again led to a two-run single by Conner Davis to put the No. 19 Lions up 6-3.
Boyd tagged on three more runs in the fifth, which included Maynard’s other two RBI on a two-out single to center.
Slater pitched five innings, allowing one earned run on three hits and four walks for the win. He struck out five. Isaac Leeper allowed one hit the rest of the way in relief.
No. 7 University Heights got an RBI triple by Cadence Gibson in the third. After a walk to Hayden Hunt, a throwing error allowed the Blazer to score their other two runs.
This story will be updated.
State High School Baseball Tournament
What: Baseball State Tournament presented by UK HealthCare
Where: Legends Field (this week) and Kentucky Proud Park (semis and final).
Tickets: via GoFan.
Streaming: KHSAA.tv.
Saturday’s quarterfinals
McCracken County 6, Sayre 1.
Boyd County 9, University Heights 3.
Campbell County vs. Apollo (n).
Beechwood vs. Trinity (n).
Friday’s semifinals
10 a.m.: McCracken County winner vs. Boyd County.
1:30 p.m.: Campbell County-Apollo winner vs. Beechwood-Trinity winner.
June 13 final
3:30 p.m.: Championship game.
