By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
With a little over two weeks remaining in the regular season, Covington Catholic’s baseball team is enjoying a power surge at the plate that has carried the Colonels to the top of the 9th Region standings.
CovCath won a home game against Highlands, 8-5, on Wednesday to raise its record to 15-6. It was the fifth straight win for the Colonels and during that streak they’ve scored 63 runs on 72 hits, including eight home runs and 15 doubles.
“We’ve got some pop in the lineup,” said CovCath junior Casey McGinness. “Mainly, we’re more of a base hitting team and score runs by moving runners around the bases. But, every now and then, we’ll get some home runs here and there.”
Seven of the nine players in CovCath’s batting order got at least one hit in Wednesday’s game and McGinness delivered two of the biggest ones. He blasted a two-run homer in the fifth inning to break a 3-3 tie and ripped a two-run double off the center field wall in the sixth inning that gave the Colonels an 8-5 lead.
CovCath relief pitcher Evan Stallman retired the three batters he faced in the top of the seventh to get the save and secure the win for senior left-hander Jack Maile, who gave up five runs on seven hits.
It was the Colonels’ second win of the season against the three-time defending 9th Region champions. Two weeks ago, CovCath blanked Highlands, 11-0, in a game played at Great American Ball Park.
“We swung it a lot better this time,” Highlands coach Jeremy Biaoni said after Wednesday’s loss that dropped his team’s record to 15-7. “But give credit to (CovCath). They hit the ball well one through nine in the lineup. We played better defense and pitched well and swung it a little bit, but we still have a lot of work to do and we don’t have a lot of time to get it done.”
Junior right-hander Grady Cramer pitched all seven innings for the Bluebirds. He gave up 12 hits and had only one strikeout. Biaoni put him on the mound instead of the team’s top two senior pitchers — Drew Rom and Hunter Dreves — who were both recruited by major colleges.
“We throw whoever is available,” the coach said. “We don’t pay much attention to any match-ups except our district seeding games.”
In the second inning, Highlands had bases loaded with one out and only got one run across the plate. That slim lead evaporated when CovCath outfielder Justin Colvin cracked a three-run homer in the third.
Highlands tied the score in the fifth on a two-run double by Rom, who was playing left field. In the bottom of that inning, McGinness hit his two-run homer off Cramer to put CovCath back on top.
“He jammed me early (with a pitch) and when I swung it kind of hit off my hands again,” McGinness said. “Luckily, the wind took it got out of here, but I’ll take it.”
A run-scoring single by Maile later in that inning gave CovCath a 6-3 lead. But the wind blowing directly out to center field worked in Highlands’ favor in the sixth inning when sophomore shortstop Ethan Kavanaugh and junior outfielder Chris Bridewell both hit solo home runs to make it 6-5.
After Cramer retired the first two CovCath batters he faced in the bottom of the sixth, he gave up a single and walk. Those two runners scored on the double by McGinness to give the Colonels an 8-5 advantage.
“He was up starting for us last year as a sophomore and he was a star (running back) on the football team so he doesn’t surprise me at all,” CovCath coach Bill Krumpelbeck said of the clutch hitting by McGinness.
CovCath needs five more victories to continue a long string of 20-win seasons under Krumpelbeck, who is in his 42nd season as head coach of the program. But the Colonels’ main goal is capturing their first 9th Region championship since 2005.
“We’ve got some tough games coming up so we’re going to stay focused on those and when the time comes we’re going to lock in and get ready for the district and regional playoffs,” McGinness said.
CovCath has district seeding games against Holy Cross on Thursday and Beechwood on May 10. One day after the Beechwood game, the Colonels will take on Highlands once again in the Coach Conner Classic at a site to be determined.
HIGHLANDS 010 022 0 — 5 8 0
COVCATH 003 032 x — 8 12 1
WP — Maile (5 Ks). LP — Cramer. HITTING LEADERS: CC — Beagle 2-4; Coldiron 2-3, 2B; McGinness 2-4, HR, 2B, 4 RBI; Colvin HR, 3 RBI; Maile 3-3. H — Kavanaugh 2-3, 3B; Gulley 2B; Rom 2B, 2 RBI; Bridewell HR. RECORDS: CovCath 15-6, Highlands 15-7.