“Refuse”, “Refuse”, “Refuse”, were the words often uttered by Beechwood head baseball coach Kevin Gray Tuesday down the third base line.
In facing Covington Catholic’s Eli Wagner on the bump in the 35th District championship game, Gray didn’t want to see a replica of the May 9 matchup, a 5-3 Colonels victory where Wagner struck out 11 Tiger batters.
The Tigers refused to go down without a fight in every at-bat on Tuesday at Covington Catholic and eventually got to Wagner and five other Colonels pitchers in a 14-3 victory to claim their first district title since 2021.
“Refuse to strikeout,” Gray said. “We learned from them the first time we played them. They fouled off 29 balls. Pitch counts go up, they bring relievers in and I just told the guys put it in play. Refuse to strikeout and put it in play and make them make a play somewhere.”
The win not only stunned Covington Catholic’s stingy pitching staff, entering the game with a 1.64 ERA and having not allowed more than five runs in a game this season, but put the rest of the 9th Region on notice. The Tigers looked the part of a four-time reigning 9th Region champ on Tuesday.
“Confidence is sky high right now,” Gray said. “They finally realized why we were getting upset and working them hard. We were better than what we were doing, better than what we’re hitting and I think the guys realize what can be ahead of them.”
Chase Flaherty hit two home runs, the second a three-run shot to help break the game open. His first homerun just cleared the left field fence to knot the game up at one in the top of the second inning, the second was a towering shot over the 380-foot mark in left center at the center of the tree line to give the Tigers a 5-1 lead in the fifth.
They were Flaherty’s first two homeruns of the season.
“I was just focused on putting the ball in play and it caught the barrel and went,” Flaherty said. “We lost to these guys the past two years in this game so it’s good to come back and win one.”
Branton Stiles came on in relief and diffused a bases loaded and one out situation in the bottom of the fourth, keeping the game knotted at 1-1 after getting two ground balls to help the Tigers escape the frame.
“Just had to throw strikes and get the job done,” Stiles said. “Try to keep the ball in the ground and make sure nothing gets in the air or catches the gap or anything. Luckily got on the ground and the guys made a couple nice plays to get out of the inning.”
At that point, CovCath had left nine runners on base.
After Tyler Fryman scored on a Keagan Hutton infield single to make it 2-1, Flaherty’s three-run blast opened the floodgates.
The Colonels tallied 13 runs over the final three innings, collecting 10 hits as Flaherty and Hutton both drove in four runs, the two along with Fryman providing two-hit games. Fryman and Shawn Sowder drove in two runs apiece as the Tigers were both aggressive and showed a keen eye, drawing seven walks in the contest.
After losing to CovCath in the district title matchup the prior two seasons, the Tigers are bringing back the district championship trophy to Fort Mitchell for the first time since 2021.
“This was really awesome for us,” Gray said. “We struggled the last couple weeks of the regular season hitting and pitchers struggled a little bit. We kept telling the guys we’re fine, those are basically practice games until you get to the districts and the regional. We just kept grinding, practicing and working hard and today was a total team effort.”
Now comes the big test to see if they can defend their 9th Region title and win it for a fifth straight time. They’ll find out their opponent on Thursday when the draw takes place. They’ll face either Conner, St. Henry or Newport Central Catholic, runner-ups in their respective districts.
“All eight teams that are in it can win it,” Gray said. “Can’t throw off against anybody and you have to go for it right off the bat.”
CovCath’s loss was just their fifth of the season as they head into the region tournament 30-5. They’re looking at a matchup against either Ryle, Dixie Heights or Highlands, Tuesday’s loss carving out a much tougher path as a runner-up.
“Their season is not over, they can easily win the region,” Gray said. “I told their guys in the handshake line let’s play a third time next week. It wouldn’t be until the regional final, but would be nice if we’re both there.”
The Colonels finished with 10 runners left on base in the contest and tallied eight hits to go with three errors in the field. Beechwood didn’t commit an error and got around freshman Caleb Arrasmith walking six batters, but limited most of the Colonels threats in 3.1 innings pitched, allowing four hits and an earned run. Stiles went 3.2 in relief, allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out three.
Jackson Reardon led the Colonels at the plate with three hits, Marcus Suwinski with two hits and an RBI.
Named to the All-Tournament team were Covington Latin’s Aiden Ross, Holmes Brandon Riley, Holy Cross Jimmy Holtz, CovCath’s Bradley Zekl and Jackson Reardon and Beechwood’s Matthew Cottengim, Tyler Fryman and tournament MVP Chase Flaherty.
TIGERS 14, COLONELS 3
BEECHWOOD — 010-045-4 — 14-10-0
COVINGTON CATHOLIC — 100-002-0 — 3-8-3
2B — Fryman 2, Hutton
HR — Flaherty 2
WP — Stiles. LP — Wagner.
Records: Beechwood 22-13, Covington Catholic 30-5