Battle of the Bourbon Trail hits halfway point as a former Reds All-Star heats up
While sports fans have spent the past several weeks wondering whether or not college football and high school athletics will return this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic, baseball has been played in Lexington — with fans in the stands.
The Lexington Legends and Florence Y’alls have been squaring off in the Battle of the Bourbon Trail since the beginning of August and the six-week series created by the two minor league franchises is right around its halfway point.
When the minor league baseball season was canceled because of the pandemic, the Legends and Y’alls developed the series in order to fill the void. Each franchise put together two teams — Lexington fields the Legends and Leyendas while the Y’alls and Freedom represent Florence — filled with former college, minor league and major league players. The teams rotate games against one another and play in both Lexington and Florence every Wednesday through Sunday.
Lexington recently brought in some big-name help that began paying off quickly. Last week, the Legends added former Cincinnati Reds All-Star Brandon Phillips to the roster along with former Red Ivan De Jesus Jr. With their addition, seven former MLB players have suited up for the Legends during the Battle of the Bourbon Trail. The others are: Ben Revere, Robbie Ross, Henry Owens, Jordan Pacheco and Mike Hauschild.
Several former University of Kentucky players are also on the roster for both Lexington teams, including Zach Logue, Chris Machamer, Kole Cottam, Luke Becker and Luke Heyer.
On Friday, Phillips smacked a walk-off home run in the 10th inning to give the Legends a 4-2 win over the Leyendas at Whitaker Bank Ballpark in Lexington.
The night before in his second game with the club, the three-time All-Star hit two homers. Phillips, 39, batted .275 and hit 211 home runs during a 16-year MLB career.
Legends President and CEO Andy Shea told the Herald-Leader in an email that the Battle of the Bourbon Trail has been a resounding success so far.
“I’m very happy with how everything is going,” he said.
Shea said attendance has been “solid” and that three games last week sold out. Because of safety protocols related to the pandemic, fan capacity at Whitaker Bank Ballpark has been reduced to 50 percent and social distancing policies are in effect. Fans must be wearing masks and have their temperature read with a thermal device to enter the stadium.
“Everything has gone very smooth with COVID protocols and policies. Fans have been very good about wearing masks in all common areas, our staff has been diligent reminding folks to wear theirs throughout the ballpark,” Shea said. He added that social distancing “has not been an issue at all.”
Play resumes Wednesday at Whitaker Bank Ballpark when the Leyendas meet the Freedom at 6:45 p.m. The series will conclude on Sunday, Sept. 13, with a final game between the Legends and Leyendas.
Tickets for all remaining games of the Battle of the Bourbon Trail are on sale and can be purchased by visiting Lexingtonlegends.com.
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 8:53 AM.
