By Terry Boehmker
The Beechwood baseball team accomplished the first goal it set for this season with a 9-0 win over Newport Central Catholic in the championship game of the 9th Region All “A” Classic on Wednesday night at Florence Freedom Park.
This is the third straight year that Beechwood has won the regional title and advanced to the state playoffs for small-school teams. The Tigers will play 10th Region champion Bishop Brossart in a sectional game with the winner getting a berth in the eight-team state tournament to be played May 7-8 at Whitaker Bank Park in Lexington.
“We expect to play at a top level every year and we definitely wanted to win this and make it down to state,” said Beechwood senior pitcher Kyle Fieger. “We’ve made it down there every year except my freshman year. We’ve gone every year since then and we want to do it again.”
Fieger did his part by allowing only four hits in the shutout win over NewCath. He got off to a slow start, but he retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced in the final four innings.
“It was a little slick on the mound so I had to change shoes after the third inning,” Fieger said. “But once I got in the groove and started heating up all my pitches started working late in the game. That’s what normally happens to me. I start off slow, but once the game gets going I do better.”
The Tigers scored six runs in the first two innings to give Fieger a comfortable lead to work with on the mound. Senior shortstop Kyle Rowe got it all started with a run-scoring single in the first inning and blasted a three-run homer in the second.
“He’s been pretty much my best hitter all year long,” Beechwood coach Robert Mullins said of Rowe. “He’s playing real loose and having fun.”
Beechwood sent eight batters to the plate in the top of the first inning and scored three runs by taking advantage of the problems NewCath junior pitcher Noah Yeager was having on the mound.
Ethan Stringer led off the game with a line drive single to left field. After stealing second base and going to third on a wild pitch, he scored on a flare single to left field by Rowe. Yeager continued to have trouble with his control. He threw two more wild pitches that put Rowe on third base and made another errant throw that allowed him to score.
With two outs, Brayden Combs of Beechwood drew a walk and stole second. He made a break for third on a pitch that Trevor Soward poked into the center field for a run-scoring single that made it 3-0.
The Tigers doubled their lead with one swing of the bat in the second inning. Rowe stepped to the plate with two runners on and blasted a home run over the left field wall to put the Tigers ahead, 6-0.
“I was looking for a fast ball and he gave it to me right where I wanted it,” Rowe said of his fourth homer of the season. “I was looking for it the pitch before, but it was a little inside. I figured he’d come back with it again so I sat on it.”
That was the last pitch Yeager threw in the game. He was replaced by senior Chris Romito, who was able to retire nine of the next 11 batters he faced before giving up three runs in the fifth inning.
Back-to-back triples by Soward to left field and Noah Huesman to right field got it started. After two walks that loaded the bases, John Odom was hit by a pitch and another run crossed the plate. That brought junior Travis Halderman to the mound for NewCath and he threw a wild pitch that enabled Beechwood’s final run to score.
The Tigers have now won five consecutive games to raise their record to 10-3. They’re gotten off a good start without one of their top seniors, Brett Slusher, who is still recovering from an abdominal hernia.
“He’s supposed to be back in a couple of weeks, but we’re not sure yet,” Fieger said. “We’re already playing good baseball, but once he gets back we’re going to be even better. He’ll help us a lot.”
BEECHWOOD 330 030 0 – 9 10 0
NEWCATH 000 000 0 – 0 4 1
WP – Fieger (6 Ks). LP – Yeager. Hitting leaders: B — Rowe 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Soward 3-4, 3B; Huesman 2-3, 3B. Records: Beechwood 10-3, NewCath 4-7.