By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The suspense was building in the opening game of the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA state baseball tournament on Wednesday night in Lexington. Beechwood and Breckinridge County were tied, 6-6, going into extra innings, but an umpire spotted lightning and halted the game before any heroics could take place.
The lightning didn’t let up, so the teams never returned to the field. The game is scheduled to resume at 11 a.m. Thursday with Breckinridge County coming to bat in the top of the eighth inning. The team that pulls out the dramatic victory advances to the state semifinals on Friday at Whitaker Bank Park.
Thunderstorms remain in the forecast for Lexington. When the game does resume, it will be interesting to see who Beechwood coach Kevin Gray sends to the mound. He’ll have to replace freshman Brett Holladay, who put in seven innings Wednesday and gave up six runs on just four hits.
In the third inning, Breckinridge County took a 6-2 lead on a two-run homer by Jacob Ball and three-run homer by Cole Tabor. But Holladay kept his composure and allowed only one hit through the next four innings.
Beechwood tied the score with four runs in the bottom of the third. Senior catcher Clay Trusty started the rally with a run-scoring single. After a bases loaded walk and passed ball put two more runs on the board, senior outfielder Logan Castleman tied it with a run-scoring single.
Beechwood senior shortstop John Odom tried to score the go-ahead run on Castleman’s single, but he was tagged out attempting a head-first slide at home plate.
Odom and Castleman drew walks to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning. A sacrifice bunt put them both in scoring position with one out, but a strikeout and infield pop out left them stranded.
The Tigers got their six hits, all singles, off Breckinridge County starting pitcher Preston Cottrell, who was replaced by Brock Lucas in the fifth inning. Beechwood junior third baseman Jackson Noll had two hits off Cottrell and drove in the Tigers’ first run.
This is the third extra-inning game of the season for Beechwood (38-1). The Tigers won the other two, including a 4-3 win over Montgomery County in a sectional playoff game last Saturday that put them in the eight-team state tournament bracket. This is the fifth time that Beechwood has played in the season finale for the state title.
Breckinridge County (28-5) edged Daviess County, 7-6, in an extra-inning game on May 13 that was one of 14 straight wins that carried the Fighting Tigers to their first-ever state tournament appearance.
Thirty minutes after the Beechwood-Breckinridge County game is completed on Thursday, the first-round game between Pleasure Ridge Park and Lexington Tates Creek that was cancelled Wednesday night will take place. The first-round games scheduled for Thursday night are Rowan County vs. McCracken County at 5:30 p.m. and Hazard vs. Louisville Trinity at 8:30 p.m.
BRECKINRIDGE 105 000 0 — 6 4 1
BEECHWOOD 024 000 0 — 6 6 2
HITTING LEADERS: BEE — Noll 2-4, 1 RBI; Castleman 2 RBI; Odom 1 RBI; Berger 1 RBI. BC — Ball HR, 2RBI; Tabor HR, 3 RBI.