By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
LEXINGTON — The Highlands baseball team is one win away from making history. If the Bluebirds defeat West Jessamine in the final game of the Rawlings/KHSAA state tournament at 7 p.m. Saturday, they will become their school’s first state champion in that sport.
Highlands knocked off Greenup County, 5-2, in Friday’s semifinals behind the steady pitching, good defense and timely hitting that’s carried the Bluebirds through out the season. They will be counting on that same combination to win the biggest game of their high school careers on Saturday.
“We’ve just got to keep on playing like we’ve been playing the whole tournament,” said Highlands senior pitcher Joseph Martin. “It’s the same game, we’ll just be playing in front of a bigger crowd this time.”
Martin went the distance in Friday’s game to pick up his fourth win in five decisions. He allowed three hits and had eight strikeouts. The Bluebirds were charged with an error in the first inning, but they didn’t make any more fielding mistakes. In fact, they made some big plays that helped their team stay in command.
“Our defense is just crushing it out there,” Martin said. “All of our pitchers trust them a lot. That makes it easier on all of us.”
Highlands coach Jeremy Baioni wouldn’t name his starting pitcher for Saturday’s championship game. He has several alternatives since he didn’t have to replace Martin on the mound in the semifinal win. He could even go with Mitchell Jones, the winning pitcher in the Bluebirds’ first state tournament game earler this week.
“I don’t know yet,” Baioni said of his pitching choice for the season finale. “We’re just going to go out and play as hard as we can and try to have some fun.”
This is the second consecutive year that a Northern Kentucky team has reached the championship final. Simon Kenton was state runner-up last season. Scott, the other local team in this year’s tournament, lost to West Jessamine, 15-4, in Friday’s second semifinal game.
Highlands scored five runs on six hits against the three pitchers Greenup County used in their semifinal game.
In the second inning, the Bluebirds loaded the bases with one out and scored their first two runs on a fielding error and a walk. Greenup County starting pitcher Ethan Coldiron was then moved to third base and relief pitcher Jaxon Keeton retired the next two batters on long flyouts.
The Musketeers made another pitching change in the third inning when Highlands had runners at first and third with one out. On the first pitch after the switch, Highlands catcher Luke Hennigan bunted back to the mound, but relief pitcher Zach Hayden wasn’t able to field it and Jake Whitford crossed the plate on the error. A two-out single by Grayson Heck knocked in two more runs to give the Bluebirds a 5-0 lead.
“When you get a big lead like that early on in the game you pitch with a lot more confidence,” Martin said. “That’s what my boys did for me and I just went out there and threw hard the rest of the game.”
Martin maintained a shutout until the sixth inning when Greenup County got its only two runs. Leadoff batter Brody Shoupe was hit by a pitch and scored on a triple to the right-field wall by Jared Hunt. The next batter grounded out and Hunt came home on the play.
Greenup County’s leadoff hitter in the seventh inning got a single, but Martin retired the next three batters to end the game.
“We see where we are and then decide on a starter and it worked out that Joe was able to go for us (Friday),” coach Baioni said. “And I’m glad he was. He did a great job for us.”
The leading hitter for Highlands was Heck, who went 2-for-3 with three RBI. The senior second baseman also made one of the game’s best plays in the third inning. With a runner on first, Heck made a diving stop on a hard hit ground ball and threw the batter out to help his team get out of the inning.
Highlands outfielders also turned in a couple of good plays. Conner Kreeger made a running catch on a short pop fly to right field in the fourth inning and Brady Murray snagged a foul ball down the left field line in the seventh.
“We really stress that to our guys all season,” coach Baioni said of his team’s good fielding. “When you don’t make plays, they see the result. But they’ve played tremendous defense these last few days.
GREENUP COUNTY 000 002 0 — 2-3-4
HIGHLANDS 023 000x — 5 6 1
WP — Martin (8 Ks). LP — Coldiron. HITTING LEADERS: H — Heck 2-3, 3 RBI. Hunt 3B. RECORDS: Highlands 35-6, Greenup County 33-11.