By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
Jeff Trame has coached successful teams in four different high school sports, but he’s amazed at how well his Scott baseball team has done this spring.
Most of the Scott players had little or no varsity experience when the season began, but they steadily improved and won the 10th Region championship to earn a berth in this week’s 16-team Rawlings/KHSAA State Tournament. The Eagles will play 14th Region champion Knott County Central in a first-round game at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Whitaker Bank Ballpark in Lexington.
“They’ve surprised me a lot,” Trame said of his 21-11 team. “For us to win region last year and then to come back without a lot of experience and see what these guys have done this year is just incredible.”
Trame, 54, had also coached basketball, volleyball and slow-pitch softball teams in regional championship games during his career. But he got a special thrill last Friday when Scott defeated Harrison County, 3-1, in the 10th Region baseball final to take the title for the second consecutive year. It was an emotional victory for the veteran coach because he has known many of the players on this year’s roster since they were in Knothole baseball with his son, Andrew.
The Scott players never lost faith in their coach, or each other, when they got off to a 9-8 start this season. They just kept working hard in practice sessions and games until it all came together. They’ve now won 12 of their last 15 games, including the regional final.
“No one thought we could (win region) after losing a lot of seniors last year, but we showed them and did it again,” Andrew Trame said. “We worked on our hitting in BP (batting practice) and it started to show with the more runs we scored. Our pitching has been there the whole year. We just needed to score runs and once we started doing that I think that’s when it all clicked.”
The Eagles have a .290 team batting average and they’re averaging 5.8 runs per game. Andrew Trame is the team’s leading hitter with a .396 average (40 of 101). The next two on the stat sheet are junior Zach Mann at .365 (35 of 96) and sophomore Jake Ohmer at .342 (39 of 114). Those three players are also Scott’s top pitchers with a combined total of 13 wins. In the regional final. Mann went 6 2/3 innings to get his fifth victory of the season. Ohmer got the final out to pick up a save.
“It was a little nerve-racking,” Mann said of pitching in a regional final for the first time. “But we’ve got a great group of guys here and they all backed me up on defense. I couldn’t have done it without the rest of our fielders.”
Mann, who plays first base when he’s not on the mound, is one of the first-year starters in the Scott lineup. He joined the team this season after transfering from Community Christian School in Kenton County. Coach Trame said the junior right-hander was a great addition to his roster and helped offset the loss of seven starters on last year’s team.
“The pressure was on when I first came here,” Mann said. “But it’s a great group of guys and the coaches here at Scott really helped me improve, especially with my hitting.”
Andrew Trame will be Scott’s starting pitcher in Tuesday night’s state playoff game against Knott County Central. Mann will be at first base and Ohmer will play the shortstop position. The lineup will also include catcher Brenton Hughes, third baseman CJ Seay, second baseman Danny Fitzgerald, designated hitter Ryan Seeney and outfielders Noah Black, Eli Sowder and Jake Pusateri. Playing in the state tournament will be a new experience for most of them, but they’ve become a hard team to beat over the last few weeks.
“I can’t even explain how great of a feeling it is to be coaching these guys and for my son to be a part of it,” coach Trame said. “We’re not going to blow anybody away with our power, but they’re scrappy, and the togetherness they have is just phenomenal.”
RAWLINGS/KHSAA STATE BASEBALL TOURNAMENT
(at Whitaker Bank Ballpark, Lexington)
MONDAY’S FIRST-ROUND GAMES
North Bullitt vs. Hopkinsville, 11 a.m.
Greenup County vs. Lawrence County, 1:30 p.m.
Madison Central vs. Collins, 6 p.m.
HIGHLANDS vs. McCracken County, 8:30 p.m.
TUESDAY’S FIRST-ROUND GAMES
South Laurel vs. South Warren, 11 a.m.
Owensboro Apollo vs. Elizabethtown, 1:30 p.m.
Louisville Ballard vs. West Jessamine, 6 p.m.
SCOTT vs. Knott County Central, 8:30 p.m.
GO EAGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!