By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Walton-Verona baseball coach Clinton Coleman said the five seniors on this year’s team have been playing together since they were big enough to swing a bat in a tee ball instructional league.
If the Bearcats win three games in the All “A” Classic small-school state tournament this weekend, they’ll make school history in their final season together before graduation.
Walton-Verona has never won a state championship trophy in baseball. This year’s team would like to change that, but it won’t be easy. The Bearcats’ first-round opponent is Beechwood, a team that has won the small-school state tournament twice in the last four years and three times overall.
“With us both being small schools from this area, we’re pretty familiar with each other,” Coleman said. “A lot of guys on both teams know each other so it’ll be interesting to see how it goes at state. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Walton-Verona and Beechwood are two of the eight sectional winners in the All “A” Classic state tournament bracket. Their game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Whitaker Bank Park in Lexington.
Beechwood is off to a 15-7 start under new head coach Kevin Gray. In nine of their victories, the Tigers had double-figure run totals and they’re currently averaging 7.9 runs per game.
That’s why Coleman saved his best pitcher for the battle with Beechwood. Senior right-hander Braxton Foley has thrown two no-hitters for the 10-5 Bearcats this season and he ranks among the leading pitchers in the state in both earned run average (0.52) and strikeouts (58 in 27 innings).
“He’s just done everything that we expected out of him,” Coleman said of the Winthrop University recruit. “When he’s locked in, he’s tough.”
Foley’s last start came in a 6-1 win over Kentucky Country Day in the sectional playoffs last Wednesday. He did not give up a hit until the sixth inning of that game and ended up with 14 strikeouts.
“He’s anywhere from 86 or 87 to the low 90s,” Coleman said of Foley’s pitching velocity. “He’s got a really good breaking pitch and a nice change-up, too. He just did a good job keeping (Kentucky Country Day batters) off stride. He can throw the curve ball just as well as the fast ball.”
The other seniors on the Walton-Verona team are Logan Harris, Jake Kopser, Brent Perry and Dawson Moffett.
Harris is the team’s leadoff hitter and a capable pitcher who has also thrown a no-hitter this season. He’s followed by Foley, juniors Tyler Wagner and Micah Alford and Kopser in the batting order.
In the sectional playoff game, Kopser and Wagner both hit a two-run homer in the same inning for the Bearcats. Kopser has gotten hits in the team’s last three games as well.
“We don’t always have 12 or 15 hits in a game, but the seven or eight that we do get seem to come at the right time with guys on base,” Coleman said.
With Foley on the mound, the Bearcats don’t expect to get into a high-scoring game against Beechwood on Saturday.
“Obviously, pitching has been our strength up to this point,” Coleman said. “We feel like if we can put a few hits together and score some runs, we’ve got a shot.”
ALL “A” CLASSIC STATE BASEBALL TOURNAMENT
at Whitaker Bank Park, Lexington
SATURDAY
Hazard (15-5) vs. Hancock County (13-9), 10 a.m.
Louisville Holy Cross (16-9) vs. Raceland (16-4), noon
Caldwell County (17-3) vs. Somerset (15-5), 2:30 p.m.
Beechwood (15-7) vs. Walton-Verona (10-4), 4:30 p.m.
SUNDAY
Semifinal games, 8:30 and 10:30 a.m.
Championship game, 1 p.m.