There are many outstanding high school hurlers in Kentucky with an arsenal of pitches. But nothing threw a curveball like the 2024 Northern Kentucky prep baseball season.
Ryle came into the year with six all-state caliber players. This, according to the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association preseason watch list. That accounted for nearly half the total number of players honored in the entire 9th Region. Surprisingly, the rest of the region had just seven such players.
Other unexpected headlines that drive the point home: Power-hitting Beechwood goes small-ball. Underrated Covington Catholic goes 11-0 out the gate. The Colonels win 26 of their first 28 games.
Those weren’t the only surprising developments on local baseball diamonds.
Dixie Heights goes the entire offseason thinking senior standout Brach Rice is over baseball. The Colonels believe he’s making a commitment to football after signing with Miami University in Ohio. The Colonels add Rice just before the start of the year. They struggle early but finish 12-2 to close the season. They put a scare into eventual champion Ryle in a classic 2-1 final with Rice on the mound.
Conner lost 13 seniors and its longtime head coach. The Cougars went to battle with far fewer seniors in 2024. But they made the regional semifinals for the second year in a row.
If you predicted all those head-turning developments, please share your Powerball picks for the week.
“There are so many good teams and so many great coaches in Northern Kentucky,” said Beechwood coach Kevin Gray. “That makes things pretty competitive. Any number of teams can win the 9th Region any year so you have to have players.”
Depth is a common theme among this year’s most successful teams.
Ryle featured all those ballplayers named to the preseason watch list and first-year standout AJ Curry wasn’t even on it.
“We’ve definitely got depth,” Raiders coach Joe Aylor said. “We have a lot of skilled baseball players at Ryle.”
Covington Catholic boasted a pitching staff for the ages, going 10 deep, six with ERAs under 3.00. The Colonels posted a team ERA of 2.07.
The 9th Region tournament was so tough that four-time defending champion Beechwood didn’t make it out of the first round. Neither did perennial power Highlands.
“You have to tip your cap,” Gray said.
Campbell County thrived with more than 30 players and a dozen seniors in the 10th Region. Virtually half of Simon Kenton’s roster featured seniors. The Pioneers didn’t have a passel of .300 hitters. But they also didn’t have any easy outs and made the state tournament as 8th Region champions.
“We tell our hitters you have to think you’re better than the pitcher,” Pioneers coach Troy Roberts said. “Our 7-8-9 guys had five of our seven hits in the region championship.”
Ryle’s Curry and CovCath’s Jackson Reardon are the Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference Division I co-players of the year. Reardon wasn’t on the preseason watch list either. Highlands’ Zach DeSylva is Division II player of the year. Bellevue’s Aidan Dickerson is player of the year in Division III.
Curry is the Northern Kentucky Baseball Coaches Association Division I player of the year. Beechwood’s Michael Detzel is NKBCA player of the year in Division II. Reardon is the NKBCA 9th Region player of the year.
Dixie Heights’ Chris Maxwell is NKBCA D-1 coach of the year. Bellevue’s Rob Sanders is coach of the year in D-2.
Curry finished second in the state in batting average at .571. He led Kentucky with a Ryle single-season record 72 hits. Curry was third in Kentucky with a school-record 20 doubles. He was 11th with an .873 slugging percentage.
“He fits in so well,” coach Aylor said of the newcomer from California. “And he works so hard.”
CovCath’s Reardon was next locally with a .463 batting average, good for 30th in Kentucky. Reardon was third statewide with 56 hits. He tied for seventh with six triples. He tied for ninth with 15 doubles.
Lloyd’s Kadin Wright hit .453, third in the area, 42nd in Kentucky. Holmes’ Tyler Brashear hit .443, ranking fourth locally, 49th in Kentucky. Teammate Landon Turner tied for fourth statewide with seven triples.
Simon Kenton’s Tyler Ruete launched an area-leading nine home runs, ranking eighth in Kentucky. He was the area RBI leader with 37, tying for 40th in the state.
Simon Kenton pitcher Logan Cones and CovCath’s Bradley Zekl tied for second statewide with 10 wins.
CovCath’s Charlie Dieruf tied for third in Kentucky with five saves. The Colonels’ Eli Wagner ranked tied for 26th with an area-leading 1.17 ERA.
Five locals are on the 2024 Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association all-state teams. CovCath’s Reardon is first team. Ryle’s Curry made second team and Cooper’s Mark Nowak, Ryle’s Sam Eppley and Campbell County’s Tyler Schumacher are third team.
Bat flip!
