By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
Banners celebrating the Ryle baseball teams that won 9th Region championships in 2007 and 2013 are printed on the vinyl windscreen that adorns the outfield fence at the Raiders’ home field.
The seniors on Ryle’s current roster want to add another championship banner this season, and there’s no reason to think they can’t do it. The Raiders have a 28-5 record and have not lost to a regional opponent with one game remaining on their regular season schedule.
“Every time we go out there (to the outfield) to jog or stretch we see that,” Ryle senior Jake Ziegelmeyer said of the existing banners. “That gives us a little bit of extra motivation. We definitely want to leave our mark, too.”
Ziegelmeyer is one of 12 seniors on the Ryle roster who deserve much of the credit for the team’s success, according to head coach Pat Roesel. After last year’s team lost in the regional final, they provided the leadership this year’s team needed to be a top contender once again.
“We’ve got pretty much eight (seniors) out there every game and sometimes nine,” Roesel said. “And the pitching has been all senior starters except when we needed a spot start here or there. It’s all been senior dominated, no doubt.”
The Ryle pitching staff has a combined earned run average of less than 2.00. Ziegelmeyer, a Morehead State University recruit, heads the list with a 1.13 ERA and 5-1 pitching record. Two of his classmates, Zach Mann and Troy Coleman, have a combined record of 10-0.
At the plate, the Raiders entered this week with a team batting average of .343 and they’re scoring 7.3 runs per game. The leading hitters with 70 or more at-bats are Logan Rieman, Logan Turner, Ziegelmeyer and twin brothers Nathan and Matt Roe.
“We’ve had some kids work through slumps, but it’s been a really good hitting year overall,” Roesel said. “We’ve had different guys step up and things like that. We’ve taken big leads and held them and we’ve come back a few times, which is always fun to see.”
Earlier this week, Ryle maintained its perfect record against regional opponents with a 5-3 win over Beechwood, the No. 2 team in the local coaches poll. The Raiders were behind, 3-2, in the bottom of the sixth inning, but they rallied to get the win.
“Against a really good team, that’s not easy to do,” Roesel said. “That gives you some encouragement that they’re not going to quit and these seniors haven’t done that at all.”
Ziegelmeyer is the only senior who has been in the Ryle starting lineup for three years. The Raiders lost 21 games during his sophomore season and didn’t make it to the regional tournament. Last year, the team made a surprising run in the playoffs that ended with a disappointing 7-0 loss to Highlands in the regional final.
After all that, Ziegelmeyer wants to close out his high school baseball career with a regional championship and a trip to the state tournament with his senior teammates.
“It was kind of heartbreaking to lose that regional final (last year), even though we were underdogs coming in,” he said. “We definitely don’t want to feel that again, especially coming into it as the No. 1 team this year. Everybody’s looking to knock us off so we know we have to stay focused.”
The Raiders will play Boone County in the opening game of the 33rd District playoffs at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Cooper High School. The winner will earn a berth in next week’s 9th Region tournament and the loser will be done for the season.
Ryle edged Boone County, 1-0, in a regular season game on April 6 so it’s easy to see why Roesel is a little apprehensive about the rematch.
“This game is so fickle I’m not taking anything for granted,” the coach said. “I think we’re confident. Our guys know they can play with anybody when they’re focused. But there’s so many things going on with 12 seniors who are graduating. In order for them to keep playing, they have to fight through those distractions.”