By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
It didn’t happen right away. But after falling behind 1-0 in the third inning to underdog St. Henry, Ryle’s Raiders began to play the way Ryle can.
Two runs in the bottom of the third thanks to a Dylan McIntyre triple – “That was huge,” Coach Joseph Aylor said — and five more in the fourth thanks to five hits led by a double from freshman AJ Curry, Kentucky’s leading high school hitter, along with an error, a hit batsman and a walk and the rout was on.
And four more in the fifth as Ryle batted around and it was “run-rule” time and the end for St. Henry, down 10 in the fifth – 11-1.
For the 29-9 Raiders, who have won 16 of their last 18 and nine straight now, it was just another night at the ball yard as senior Sam Eppley (6-2) shook off a hit in the helmet at bat and held St. Henry (13-18) to that one run and three hits.
Of the hit in the head, Eppley said not a problem. “No, we’re good,” he said with a big smile. “I was just putting the ball in play,” after some earlier control issues this season . . . ”just giving us a better chance to win. We’re not going to let one run beat us.”
And as much as the Raiders know not to look too far ahead, using just one pitcher in a shortened, five-inning run-ruled game is the perfect start, Eppley and Aylor agree.
But as nice as those nine straight wins and 16 of the last 18 might be, they’re irrelevant, Aylor says. “The one we care about is 1-0,” he said of Game 1 in the regional. Nothing else matters.
“This team battles,” Aylor said, “this team does not give up.” That 3-2 walk-off win against CovCath in the second game these teams played is a perfect example of that.
Now it’s pick your starter against CovCath from the deep Raiders’ pitching staff. But if Aylor knows who that is, he’s not saying. “We have a 1A, a 1B and a 1C,” he says of his starters, no No. 1. Then he realized as he went down the list of possible starters for the CovCath game, he actually has four to choose from.
There’s McIntyre (5-0, 1.98 ERA), Caleb Mann (6-1, 2.44 ERA), Lucas Sanders (3-0, 2.44 ERA) and Curry (2-2, 2.33 ERA).
Aylor says he’ll make his pick the way he did with Eppley against St. Henry – “the one who gives us the best chance to win” in the matchup, including the offensive part of it.
As Eppley, who could end up in left field Wednesday says, it’s their hitting – just four runs in the two CovCath games – that has to come around in this 1 vs. 2 showdown.
“That’s what postseason baseball is all about,” Aylor says, “the best against the best.”
The rematch against CovCath will be exactly two weeks after the Raiders knocked off a Colonels’ team, leading 2-1, with a two-out seventh-inning Tate Cordrey two-run walk-off home run.
The top two teams in the Ninth Region, as they have been for most of the year, have combined for 60 wins (31 for No. 1 CovCath, 29 for No. 2 Ryle). CovCath won the first meeting between the two, 3-1, with Ryle getting that 3-2 revenge win.
Should be fun. CovCath has the state’s winningest pitcher, 10-0 Bradley Zekl, ready to go against whoever Aylor selects.
One interesting scheduling issue that could also affect how pitchers can return to the mound after throwing in earlier games is that if Dixie Heights beats Conner to advance to the championship game, it will be moved from Thursday night to Saturday afternoon at 3 because Dixie Heights is graduating Thursday. Although if it’s moved to Saturday, that’s the day Ryle graduates, although in the evening.
SCORING SUMMARY
ST. HENRY 0 0 1 0 0 x x – 1 3 2
RYLE 0 0 2 5 4 x x – 11 8 0
WP: Eppley (6-2) LP: C. Shea
LEADING HITTERS: St. Henry; Gross, 1-2, run; Ryle: Curry double, RBI; Coppola 2-2, RBI, 3 runs; McIntyre triple, 2 RBI, 2 runs; Morris 2-4, 2 RBI.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.
