LEXINGTON – “Sometimes you just have to give the other team the credit,” Beechwood Coach Kevin Gray said as he walked off the field at Kentucky Proud Park Saturday for the Tigers’ final baseball game of their 29-7 season.
And no, they won’t be returning next weekend for the final four semis as much as that was their goal this season.
Not after getting shut out, 1-0, by Russell County’s superb senior left-hander Cody Luttrell, who propelled the 30-6 Lakers into a semifinal matchup against Woodford County, a 10-3 winner over Boyd County Saturday morning.
Asked when the last time his team had been shut out, Gray thought maybe not “ever . . . not since I’ve been here.”
In fact, Beechwood had hit double figures in runs 18 times this season. Not a surprise, with a team batting average of .380, the Tigers were the state’s No. 1 hitting team. And right near the top in runs scored, averaging 9.37 a game.
But the closest they got here was in the bottom of the seventh when Mitch Berger blasted a ball high and deep with what looked like plenty of carry to the left field fence only to see it blown back into the field of play to be caught just at the base of the fence.
“The umpire out there told me had the wind not been blowing, it might have gone out by 20 feet,” Gray said. But the wind was blowing. And in this game, Beechwood had left itself no margin for error.
Make that, lefty Luttrell, a smooth thrower with an 11-0 record, best in the state, and an 0.55 ERA and with 124 strikeouts in 63 2/3 innings, both among the best in the state, had allowed them no margin for anything.
Rarely did a Tiger get a good swing on the ball, or even look comfortable or confident. On a number of pitches, a Beechwood hitter would jump away only to have the ball cross the plate for a called strike.
“His ball moved a lot,” Beechwood starter Sam Cottengim, the regular second baseman, said. “He hit his spots, he changed speeds.”
That made it difficult, Gray said. “His fast ball might have just been 83-84 miles per hour but the way he changed speeds, it looked like it was 88-90.”
“His location was really good,” said Beechwood third baseman Jackson Rosburrough, named to the all-tournament team after his game-winning extra-inning hit Thursday against Owensboro Catholic.
Other than Berger’s blast, the only Beechwood threat came in the third inning with back-to-back singles from Landon Johnson and Cameron Boyd. Unfortunately for Beechwood, that happened with two outs. And with the next hitter going down on strikes – the third in the inning to do so – that was it until Berger came close.
“He threw a complete game in less than 80 pitches,” Gray said of Luttrell’s efficiency. Actually he threw 81, with 58 for strikes, with eight strikeouts.
“His ball really had a tail on it, great movement,” Gray said. “We just couldn’t square the ball up at all.”
After the game, Gray congratulated Luttrell on his four-hit shutout effort. “We just don’t get shut out,” he told him.
Until Saturday, which was a shame for what Cottengim accomplished, holding Russell County to one run and six hits in 6 1/3 innings. Like Luttrell, he was unbeaten at 5-0 coming into this game. Russell County’s only run came in the third after a pair of singles and a perfectly executed squeeze bunt by DH Evan Hammond for the game’s lone RBI.
And then when Cottengim needed help, with two on and two out in the sixth, he got it from reliever Torin O’Shea to keep Russell County at one run.
“Sam, you couldn’t do any more than you did,” Gray told him in front of the team. “It is what it is. The other team played good.”
To the seniors, “You know what you accomplished in your four years here (with three trips to the state tournament),” Gray told them. “And for you guys coming back, you know what it takes.”
“I couldn’t really put it into words,” Roseburrough said of his four years as he walked off with his all-state-tourney plaque on his way to more baseball at Indiana Southeast.
“You have so much to be proud of,” Gray said before hugging his guys and sending them off for the summer. “So much I can’t even explain.”