Down to their third option on the mound and facing a lefty who carried an earned run average of 1.25, Ryle met their match on Saturday at the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Baseball State Tournament presented by UK HealthCare.
The Raiders dropped the quarterfinal contest to McCracken County, 4-1.
Respect. That’s what Ryle earned on their way down here to face Caleb Ehling, a Wright State commit and the Mustangs No. 1 option on the bump. His off-speed stuff had the Raiders off-balance in the game, limiting Ryle to three hits while walking just one and striking out eight.
McCracken County (33-9) elected to save Ehling for Saturday instead of pitching him in Friday’s first round matchup against West Jessamine.
“Tells you what they think of us,” Raiders coach Joe Aylor said. “Definitely the respect that our kids have earned throughout the year this year and the work they’ve put in. People saving pitching for you is a nice feeling.”
With Sam Eppley’s injury in Friday’s first round matchup against East Carter, it changed the shape of things a little bit for the Raiders. It forced Dylan McIntyre to come in Friday’s game with Caleb Mann closing out the game in the eighth inning. With Mann throwing under 25 pitches, it still made him available for Saturday’s game.
Mann started Saturday’s game and lasted 4.1 innings, a one-out, two-run single by McCracken’s Kendrick Dunning proving to be the dagger in the bottom of the fifth inning and making it 4-1.
The Mustangs got to Mann early with two runs in the bottom of the first, Eli James with an RBI triple and later scored on an error. Luke Sanders came in after Mann and threw 1.2 innings of one-hit baseball, walking one and striking out one.
“Caleb came in and did a great job,” Aylor said. “Luke came in and did a great job. They got their hits and we didn’t and that was kind of the game. I was comfortable with Caleb and even if we got to next week, I was comfortable with going Dylan (McIntyre) and Caleb 1-2.”
AJ Curry made it a 2-1 game in the top of the fourth, his towering homerun hitting off the roof of the Pepsi Party Deck in right field.
“It was a hanging curveball,” Curry said. “Before the at-bat, I go up to my coach, I say, ‘First curveball, he threw me in the first at-bat I turned my back to it.’ He’s gonna throw me another one and I’m gonna hit on the Pepsi Party Deck and I guess I did it. He was a great pitcher honestly, other than that he threw a great game.”
The homerun caps Curry’s remarkable sophomore season as he led the state in batting average in his first season with the team after moving in from California.
“We’re all family. We’re basically all like brothers from another mother. We’re all just brothers,” Curry said.
“Family” was the last word used to break Ryle’s final huddle of the season, a group of seven seniors graduating from a season that will be remembered for quite some time in Union.
“These kids don’t want to leave each other,” Aylor said. “They’re in it for each other from day one. AJ comes in and doesn’t know our humor or sarcasm and learned that a little bit. This is home to a lot of people and continues to be home to a lot of people. It really is a family, it’s bigger than the team and me, it’s a 30-year family that continues to grow.”
The loss extends Northern Kentucky’s drought as a baseball state champion to 22 years, Covington Catholic the last to hoist the trophy in 2002.
“Our talent is so spread out,” Aylor said. “We have eight to nine teams in the region that could come down here and do what we did. Some of these other counties have all the talent going to one school. You combine Boone County alone, you’re talking about a state title contender every year. It’s the nature of the beast and we’ve got our work cut out for us. Unfortunately haven’t been able to breakthrough since 2002, but it is what it is.”
MUSTANGS 4, RAIDERS 1
RYLE — 000-100-0 — 1-3-1
MCCRACKEN CO. — 200-020-x — 4-7-0
3B — (MC) Green
HR — (R) Curry
WP — Ehling. LP — Mann.
Records: Ryle 32-10, McCracken County 33-9
