Rain came into Richmond on Sunday morning and initially delayed things. But the Beechwood Tigers took Turkey Hughes Field at Eastern Kentucky University trying to claim another All A State Baseball crown.
Beechwood (20-3) made it back to the championship game. But the Tigers ran into the determined 15th region champion Pikeville Panthers (19-7), fell behind in the second inning and could not recover in a 10-7 loss. The second game started about half an hour after the second semifinal game.
“It’s tough to come back. But we won’t make excuses. Pikeville played really well,” said Kevin Gray, Beechwood Head Coach. “They had a lot of hits with two out to score runs. It’s high school baseball. It’s a tough pill to swallow. But you have to give (the Panthers) credit. They did a good job.”
The Tiger offense batted .412 (14 for 34) overall seeing four players record multi-hit games. Beechwood put up what is normally enough runs to win the game. Junior center fielder and EKU commit Mitchell Berger went 3 for 4 with a three-run home run, double and scored twice. Junior shortstop Ben Meier went 3 for 3 with two doubles, one RBI and one run scored. Junior catcher Brice Estep went 2 for 4 with one RBI and one run scored with senior second baseman Sam Cottengim going 2 for 4 with a double and two RBI.
But the Panthers batted .462 (12 for 26) seeing four players record multi-hit games. The ninth hitter for Pikeville in sophomore right fielder Jeb Wilkerson led the way going 4 for 4 with two runs scored and a run batted in.
Senior shortstop Tate Walters, sophomore second baseman Sam Wright and freshman third baseman Jackson Hall all had two hits for the Panthers. Sophomore first baseman Dylan Thompson had a triple in the third inning when Beechwood lost the ball in the sun scoring Walters. He then scored on a Wright ground out to give Pikeville a 4-0 lead. Walters, Thompson and Wright all scored twice. Wright and Hall had two RBI each.
Senior lefty Brady Clark (7-2) started for Pikeville pitching four innings. Eighth grader Bash Ryan pitched the final three innings for the Panthers.
Junior Sam Stacy (3-2) took the loss for Beechwood pitching the first three innings. Junior Torin O’Shea and freshman Chase Flaherty pitched two innings each.
Beechwood trailed 4-3 after three innings. The teams matched each other with one run each in the next two innings.
But the Panthers scored four unearned runs in the top of the sixth. Wilkerson and freshman center fielder Bradyn Hall led off with singles. Walters then laid down a bunt and reached on an error to load the bases. Thompson hit a grounder to Cottengim at second. Cottengim threw home. But the throw was dropped allowing Wilkerson to score on the Beechwood error. Senior catcher Logan Windle then drew a bases-loaded walk to give Pikeville an 8-5 lead and Wright grounded out to third scoring Walters to put the Panthers up 9-5.
That’s when some controversy occurred. Pikeville freshman designated hitter Noah Jarrell landed a bunt. Beechwood came home and Estep appeared to tag Thompson out before Thompson touched the plate. But the home plate umpire ruled otherwise giving Pikeville a 10-5 lead before Hall grounded into a double play to end that inning.
Beechwood scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to make the final score. Berger walked and senior first baseman Tanner Jackson singled him to third before Meier singled him in. With two out, Cottengim doubled in Meier.
The Tigers survived an expected pitchers duel over the 12th Region champion Danville Admirals, 2-1 in the semifinals to advance to the championship game. Berger (6-0) out-dueled Danville senior Brady Baxter (5-2), a Marshall University commit. The two allowed just four hits each in an error-free game.
“That was probably the best high school game I’ve ever been a part of,” Gray said. “Mitchell and Baxter threw great. That was a really good game.”
Both worked six innings. Berger struck out four and walked three with Baxter striking out 11 and walking one.
The teams scored all the runs in the first inning. Danville (19-5) struck first when junior center fielder Jarius Bryant walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and senior first baseman KJ Stanfield singled him to third. Then with one out, Baxter singled to score Bryant and Stanfield advanced to third.
But Beechwood escaped more damage with a double play. Senior shortstop Preston Barnes lined out to Cottengim at second and Cottengim fired to Jackson at first to double up Baxter.
Junior center fielder Cameron Boyd led off the bottom of the first lining a 3-2 pitch over the left field wall for his 10th home run of the year to tie the game at 1-1. The next Beechwood batter in senior Brett Holladay tripled and two outs later, Jackson lined a single to left scoring Holladay to make the final score.
The Beechwood defense made a number of plays to keep the Admirals at bay the rest of the way. Freshman right fielder Fox Spears tried to steal with two out in the top of the fifth. But Estep fired a strike to Cottengim at second to nail him.
The Tigers turned a double play in the top of the sixth. Bryant walked to open the inning. But Stanfield grounded to Meier at shortstop. Meier stepped on second and fired a strike to Jackson to get Stanfield. After senior catcher Brady Morse singled, Baxter flied out to Beechwood junior Landon Johnson in right.
“We knew it was going to be a low-scoring game,” Meier said. “It just came down to defense and who could make the most plays.”
O’Shea took over in the seventh nailing down his fifth save of the season retiring the side. Holladay made a diving catch on Danville senior Jack Simpson for the final out ending the game.
Danville ended the Beechwood season last year. The Admirals knocked off the Tigers, 6-4 in the first round of the state tournament at the University of Kentucky’s Proud Park. Danville ended up losing in the state semifinals.
The Tigers have five All A State Baseball crowns in school history. The last one came in 2019.
Beechwood travels to Boone County on Tuesday. Game time is 5 p.m.