‘Hope he’s here tomorrow’: Rally squirrel sparks Beechwood’s state tournament win

Rally squirrel?

Maybe it was the tree-dwelling rodent that got things going for the Tigers. At a 0-0 stalemate in the top of the fourth, their was a brief pause in the game due to a squirrel running around in the infield.

A few pitches later and Beechwood put up two runs and then cruised on their way to a 6-2 victory over West Jessamine in Friday’s first round KHSAA state baseball tournament matchup at Legends Field in Lexington.

“I hope he’s here tomorrow night, that’s all I know,” Tigers coach Kevin Gray said. “Whatever that was.”

The Tigers got a lights out pitching performance from Sawyer Carlisle, who was perfect through four and threw a complete game three-hitter. He put on a Shohei Ohtani like performance as he outhit the Colts by himself with four hits in the contest as well.

Tyler Fryman added the highlight of the night in the seventh when his two-run inside the park homerun that was anything like a little league homerun. He found a gap in right center and didn’t stop as he rounded the bases with his 4.3, 40-yard speed.

Carlisle gets the ball

Kevin Gray typically lets his pitching coach make the decision on who is starting on a particular day. It turned out to be the right one on Friday.

Carlisle got the ball, electing to go with the senior compared to junior Caleb Arrasmith. Whether it was a gameplan to have Arrasmith for Saturday against Trinity or go with the hot-hand, the decision looked to be brilliant.

“They said they wanted to go with the hot-hand,” Gray said. “Sawyer’s been hot his last three or four outings. It’s not like we were saving Caleb, because they’re pretty much 1A and 1B right now. Wasn’t anything to do with saving him, but we get Caleb on the mound tomorrow and he’s been in some big games for us over the last few years.”

Carlisle was masterful through six innings, allowing just two singles and struck out 11 batters without issuing a walk on 79 pitches. The MIT signee, who wants to major in electrical engineering, was electric in his outing.

“I enjoy looking at kind of designing electrical devices and stuff,” Carlisle said. “Just think a little bit like technical and I want to make sure that I’m executing everything well. That’s how it goes for designing something small, but also comparing it to baseball like pitching the corner and making sure I’m executing there.”

He ran into some trouble in the seventh as the Colts got two runs across on a hit and two walks, but Carlisle got his 12th strikeout of the contest to end the game on his 111th pitch.

Meier a menace on the paths

With Carlisle pitching, it meant Bobby Meier would be his courtesy runner when he got on base. Well it happened four times and Meier’s speed worked wonders. He stole two bases, scored three runs and even induced an error on a pickoff attempt that got him from first to third on the error and helped score the game’s first run.

“Bobby, Tyler and Hudson (Edwards) were in track this year and went to nationals. Knowing that all I have to do is hit to get to first base and that guy’s gonna come out there, run all around for me and he did,” Carlisle said.

Fryman’s speed kills

Tyler Fryman has been clocked in the 4.3’s when he goes to football camps. It’s earned him scholarship offers from numerous Division I schools in football on top of currently being a Louisville baseball commit. He’s stressed the desire to play both in college.

But what transpired in the late hours Friday night was a sight to behold. The ball off his bat in the top of the seventh, there was no thought for Fryman of slowing down. He even ran through a stop sign.

“I’m running as hard as I can until Coach Gray tells me to stop,” Fryman said. “I’m pretty sure he did tell me to stop. I couldn’t stop, I was already going.”

He also chased a couple balls down in centerfield that may have been hits against a lot of other teams in the state. The hit broke an 0-for-10 slump for Fryman, who entered the game hitting .533 on the season.

“I want to give props to my guys,” Fryman said. “Even when I wasn’t doing good, they were still picking me up and giving me confidence and that’s all I need.”

Clean game and take advantage of mistakes

The Tigers didn’t commit an error, the Colts committed three. Two of them were on pickoff attempts that proved costly in advancing runners over that eventually scored.

“Throw strikes, don’t make errors and you’re going to be successful,” Gray said.

Brooks Becker, Arrasmith, Zach True and Jackson Mando all collected an RBI in the contest as the Tigers pounded out 11 hits.

Now comes No. 1

To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. That will be the case on Saturday in the quarterfinals when Beechwood takes on No. 1 Trinity. The Shamrocks haven’t lost to an opponent in-state this season and carry a 47-game winning streak into Saturday’s game against in-state opponents.

“We’re excited for it. At this point we’ve got nothing to lose and we’re here to make history,” Carlisle said.

First pitch is at 8:30 p.m.

BEECHWOOD 6, WEST JESSAMINE 2