Sitting at 4-6 and on a five-game losing streak on April 6, Ryle baseball coach Joe Aylor had a discussion with his team during a doubleheader in Columbus, Ohio.
“We had a conversation,” Aylor said. “I told the guys we can get frustrated all we want, we understand where we are as a team and we know we’re better than this record.”
Fast forward two months ahead and the Raiders were much better than their record, winning 27 of their next 30 games with a district and region championship to go with it. They’ve now established themselves as a legitimate threat to go down to Lexington for the KHSAA state baseball tournament and make some noise.
They have the pitching depth to do so, the “battlers” in the box and a battle-tested schedule as they’ll face their first round opponent, East Carter on Friday at 10 a.m. at Legends Field.
While snapping the five-game skid in Columbus against Avon (Ohio) certainly got them back on the right path, it wasn’t quite the turning point in the season. It came a little over a month later in the Fayette County Invitational Tournament against Frederick Douglass, a game Aylor has referenced numerous times in postgame discussions throughout the postseason.
Trailing early on, the Raiders rallied, got out of a bases loaded situation and earned a quality win over a state-ranked team.
“We treated the Fayette County tourney as our postseason prep tourney. We were limited with pitching at the time and setting ourselves up for the postseason,” Aylor said. “That was the moment that we realized we can compete with anyone in the state.”
Competing against the likes of No. 1 Trinity, Moeller (Ohio), Covington Catholic (three times), Frederick Douglass, Great Crossing and Madison Central, all state-ranked teams, has the Raiders battle tested.
The mantra “21 outs” is what they’ve taken on and it’s helped guide them to this point. Ryle was down to their final six outs against Covington Catholic in the regional semifinals, trailing 4-1 before rattling off three runs in the bottom of the sixth and scoring the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh.
“They’ve started to embrace that, we talk about fighting and going all the way to the end,” Aylor said. “Being aggressive, it’s turned into a little bit of a mantra.”
To get to this point as one of the final 16 teams standing, Ryle’s arsenal of arms is certainly a key. Junior Dylan McIntyre and senior Sam Eppley, an Xavier signee, are both next level pitchers with some quality depth in Caleb Mann, Lucas Sanders, Grant Ashcraft and Maverick Rabe.
The old state tournament format would certainly set up better for Ryle with pitch count rules, having to win four games in four or five days, the new format of a week in-between quarterfinal and semifinal games gives them a chance to start their two aces throughout.
“We are built for the state tourney in the old format, we have enough guys that can win in a five straight day setup,” Aylor said. “But this format allows us to throw our top arms more consistently. It’s kind of unfair to our third, fourth and fifth guys. We only used three pitchers so far throughout the postseason.”
Outside of one hitter, the lineup doesn’t exactly wow the opponent with a .301 team batting average and three regulars clearing the .300 mark. But when AJ Curry is at the top of the lineup, it can certainly set the Raiders up for positive situations.
Curry, a sophomore, transferred in from California this school year and has taken off from day one with the Raiders. He enters the state tournament with the best batting average in the state at .580.
“It’s funny because the first day he showed up, I ended up being his sixth period teacher. I texted Nick Dorning (Ryle’s basketball coach) and said you have a basketball player,” Aylor said. “Then he tells me he’s a baseball player and I joke back with Nick that he can’t have him. He’s special, embraces everything and this has been a great fit for him.”
Curry, standing at 6-foot-3, wasn’t really even sure how the Kentucky postseason worked. In California, there’s numerous classes and he said his team in San Diego made a first round exit last year.
Then comes the “battlers” and it starts with Anthony Coppola as the No. 2 hitter. If Coppola is on base, he finds his way around with a team-high 18 stolen bases. Coppola scored the winning run against CovCath in the region semis, scoring on a bloop double to right from first base. Big moments aren’t anything new for the Raiders sophomore, providing them on the basketball court too for the Raiders.
McIntyre, Josh Caudill and Oli Morris center the middle of the lineup, all coming up with clutch hits in the postseason so far. McIntyre provided a run-scoring double in the region tournament quarterfinals, helping open the floodgates in a victory over St. Henry. Caudill had the game-winning hit against CovCath in the region semis while Morris hit a homerun in the district championship victory over Conner and a two-run double in the 2-1 victory over Dixie Heights in the region championship, which turned out to be the game-winning hit.
From there, Eppley, Mann, Xavier Owens, Xaden Hughes and Tate Cordrey fill out the bottom of the lineup. Cordrey can be known as the CovCath killer this season, hitting the walk-off homerun over the Colonels during the regular season and a game tying two-run double in the sixth inning against the Colonels in the region semifinals. Eppley is second on the team in doubles, Mann is tied for second in walks and Owens has a low strikeout rate with just 12 strikeouts this season.
The Raiders have had their fair share of defining moments up and down the lineup, why the numbers may not stick out, but it gets the job done. Whatever comes at the Raiders this week down in Lexington, they feel they’re prepared for any situation.
The Opponent
East Carter hails out of the 16th Region and upset No. 2 Boyd County in the region championship to get here. It was their second win over Boyd County this season.
Their offense has been on fire down the final stretch of the season, accumulating 145 runs in their last 13 games. They hit .361 as a team and eight of nine regulars in the lineup hit at least .300.
“They hit it really well and have a team that can battle with the bets of them,” Aylor said. “Top of the order has speed and can really hit it. Their lineup is similar to ours in being aggressive and difficult outs.”
Andrew Tomolonis is the ace on the mound, posting a 1.47 ERA in 57.1 innings pitched with 79 strikeouts. The team boasts a 2.67 ERA.
It’s Raiders vs Raiders, Friday’s contest is at 10 a.m.
“My son is excited about that,” Aylor said. “He’s joking and saying he bets me the Raiders win.”
This will be Aylor’ second trip to Lexington, in 2014 he was a part of Brad Arlinghaus’ staff at Conner when the Cougars made the tourney.
