Tates Creek baseball’s win streak at 11 after defeating LexCath

Sam Lambert delivered the go-ahead hit for Tates Creek as the Commodores overcame rival Lexington Catholic 4-1 in the final 43rd District regular-season game on Monday night.

Lambert, a senior first baseman, knocked a 3-2 pitch to right-centerfield to score two runs and break a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning. Freshman catcher Colin Burgess added an RBI single later to make the difference for Tates Creek in a win that didn’t mean anything for the standings — coming in, Lexington Catholic was locked into the No. 1 seed and Tates Creek into the two spot for next week’s district tournament at Lexington Christian — but was another positive notch in the Commodores’ belt heading into the postseason.

Tates Creek won its 11th straight game, and arguably its most impressive of the streak. The Knights dropped just their third game in 19 outings; it was their first district loss of the season. The Commodores improved to 6-2 against district foes.

“Before the game we were hitting downstairs and people were like, ‘What’s this game mean?’” Lambert said. “ ... So we just said, ‘It’s a statement game. This is for us.’”

Despite its lack of tangible ramifications, the game was as heated and well-played as expected between rivals. Each team committed only one error and both coaches used every tool in the box, including a few words for the officials throughout.

The most eventful vocal exchange came as the Commodores threatened again in the third inning. With two outs and runners on third and first, runner interference was called after a ball was hit to second base. That resulted in outs at second and first and what would have been a scoring run moved back to third.

“Ultimately (the official) got the call right. I was just praying that he would let me argue and not throw me out,” Tates Creek Coach Larry Poynter said with a grin. “He did a great job of just letting me get it off my chest.”

Tates Creek loaded the bases in the second inning and had a shot at scoring the first run after a passed ball got by Landon Moblerly, Catholic’s catcher. But the ball bounced right back to Moberly, who tagged out Jackson Beerman on a steal attempt. Sottile struck out Drew Ransdell to end the frame.

Bo Bennington scored the game’s first run on a sac fly in the fifth inning for Lexington Catholic. The Knights’ lead quickly evaporated after Tates Creek star Jaren Shelby, who’s committed to the University of Kentucky, stepped to the plate and knocked a homer over the left-field wall in the bottom of the frame.

“It felt amazing,” Shelby said of his game-tying homer. “ ... I’m just glad we got ’em back and the team just rolled after that.”

This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 9:25 PM with the headline "Tates Creek baseball’s win streak at 11 after defeating LexCath."