Every July, Ryle High School baseball coach Joe Aylor texts his players and asks who they would like to see on the non-region schedule.
“It only takes a couple hours to get all their responses back and they always give me some big names,” Aylor said. “Teams from Louisville like Trinity and St. Xavier. Teams from Cincinnati like Moeller and Elder. The St. Louis Cardinals.”
The Raiders have been unable to get Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and the gang in St. Louis on the slate, but they play just about everybody else they wanted.
“I like it that they’re thinking big,” Aylor said. “That shows me the confidence is there.”
Ryle’s schedule includes five teams that have been ranked in the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association top 25, including top-ranked Trinity, Frederick Douglass, Sayre, Scott County, and Great Crossing twice plus defending state champion Whitley County. Moeller, the defending big-school champion and top-ranked team in Ohio, is back on the schedule for the second straight year. Two other Ohio opponents, Upper Arlington and Avon, have been within two voting points of cracking the top 20.
“We want to play those teams,” junior Dylan McIntyre said. “It’s fun.”
The Raiders scheduled defending 9th Region tournament champion Beechwood and perennial power Covington Catholic twice each. They also scheduled region semifinalists Dixie Heights and Conner twice. They play Highlands.
Add 10th Region runner-up Campbell County and 8th Region semifinalists Simon Kenton and Walton-Verona and the Raiders are scheduled to play 22 of 36 regular season games against elite teams. Ryle is set to play five in-season baseball tournaments.
“We get every team’s best,” senior Tate Cordrey said. “We have to work hard and play like we know we can and I think the schedule helps us do that.”
Ryle is going to be tough to handle no matter who it plays. Six Raiders were named to the KHSBCA preseason all-state watch list, giving them nearly half the total number of 9th Region players listed (13). Making the list were Cordrey and senior classmates Sam Eppley, Caleb Mann and Maverick Rabe, plus McIntyre and fellow junior Josh Caudill.
Three have made college baseball commitments. Eppley, who left a New Year’s Eve party one time and went to a batting cage instead, has signed with Xavier University. Cordrey is heading to Ohio Northern. Rabe, yet to play after recovering from offseason surgery, is heading to Otterbein.
“It obviously says a lot about the talent here,” Cordrey said. “Having that many guys, it’s really big for us.”
Hard-working talent toughened by a demanding schedule is a time-honored recipe for postseason success. The Raiders have taken that to the extreme this season with just 12 home games on the docket and 24 games on the road, many against the state’s best.
Despite the degree of difficulty, Ryle zoomed into the KHSBCA top five by the end of March on the strength of a season-opening 8-2 win over Beechwood and an 11-4 victory against Whitley County. The Raiders won four of their first five games. The players called them confidence builders.
Ryle had its 2023 season ended by Beechwood in the first round of the 9th Region tournament on the way to a 25-11 finish including a 33rd District title for the first time in four years.
“That 8-2 win against Beechwood was huge,” Eppley said. “We got a lot of hits.”
There were 11 hits against Beechwood, two each by Eppley and A.J. Curry. Both had a double in support of starter Caleb Mann and two relievers. Mann pitched three shutout innings, allowed one hit and struck out eight batters.
“A great start against a really good team,” said Aylor, who fields eight seniors and nine juniors. “That game set the tone. We sent a message to the rest of Kentucky that we’re serious about what we want to do and that’s contend for a state title.”
The early vibe was so good the Raiders didn’t let some tough losses get them down. They dropped one-run games on the road against Great Crossing, Moeller and Dixie Heights. Ryle played Trinity tough at home before falling 6-2. The respect for the Raiders’ talent and their schedule runs deep enough that they are ranked No. 11 in this week’s state poll despite the recent losses and a 4-4 record.
“I don’t think anybody loses any confidence when you play the best teams in the state,” McIntyre said.
With a dugout full of decorated all-stars, it’s been the lesser-publicized Curry who has bolted out the gate with the best bat. The sophomore was among the state’s hottest hitters in the early going, leading the team with a .586 batting average and 13 RBI with Ryle’s lone home run after eight games. Curry (17-for-29) ranked 13th in the state in batting average.
Eppley was next at .486. He was followed by Matt Furtado, Xaden Hughes, Olli Morris and McIntyre. All were hitting .300 or better through the first three weeks of play.
Mann and starting pitchers Eppley and McIntyre combined to allow just 12 earned runs in 11 appearances with 46 strikeouts over their first 21 innings while going 4-1. Caudill, the catcher, calls all the pitches.
“Me seeing my pitchers succeed is what I love about the program,” Caudill said. “We’re like one big family.”
Aylor couldn’t agree more. Ever the optimist, the coach also is a realist.
“We’re not playing for April 1. We’re playing for June 1,” Aylor said. “The wins have been good for our players’ confidence but the losses leave them hungry.”