LEXINGTON – Even with an under-.500 record of 16-21, Johnson Central was one of 16 regional champions who came to the University of Kentucky this week for the Kentucky High School Athletic Association state baseball tournament.
The Golden Eagles, a 15th Region powerhouse year in and year out, had knocked off a top-20 team in Lawrence County to win the 15th Region Tournament.
Campbell County had no intention of taking its opponent lightly as the Camels faced off with the Golden Eagles in the first round of the tournament Friday night at Kentucky Proud Park.
Campbell defeated Johnson 14-2, with the game ending after five innings due to the KHSAA mercy rule. The Camels scored in each of the first four innings.
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The Camels (24-10) advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals at 8:30 p.m. at Kentucky Proud Park against McCracken County (34-6), who was ranked third in the state in the final coaches poll. Johnson Central finishes 16-22. McCracken beat Hazard 16-9 in Friday’s previous quarterfinal.
But first, the Camels had to stop an upset bid before it started.
“Johnson Central and Coach (Shawn) Hall, those guys do a great job,” Campbell County head coach Scott Schweitzer said. “He’s done this a long time, very respected program. They know what they’re doing, they’ve been here before so it was huge to jump out early and stay on it. That’s a scary team to play, and for these guys to keep the foot on the gas, not look back. That’s what we did tonight.”
The Camels pounded 12 hits and took advantage of a few defensive lapses by the Golden Eagles in the early innings to build their lead.
Third baseman Evan Clark went 4-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs.
“We knew they were here for a reason,” Clark said. “They got hot at the right time, and we knew we couldn’t come out here flat. We had to get going and we did.”
Jake Gross had two hits and four RBIs. Greg Vineyard had two hits, an RBI and three runs scored. Brayden Wells had two hits and two runs scored. Caeleb James drove in two and scored two.
Max Lausé benefitted from the run support to pick up his seventh win of the year and lower his 2.18 ERA coming in.
Lausé had pitched eight shutout innings in two games in the 10th Region Tournament, including the 10th Region final to win most valuable player honors.
“Max typically attacks the zone,” Schweitzer said. “He was a little more wild than normal tonight, but (with the lead), it allows you to attack more with fastballs. He’s the hot hand and he’s pitched really well.”
The Camels set the tone right away in the first inning.
The Camels loaded the bases with nobody out after a leadoff double by Greg Vineyard and a single by Evan Clark. The Camels were helped out by a defensive lapse from starting pitcher Hunter Blevins, who threw to second instead of home on a grounder back to him with one out. All runners were safe and Campbell led 2-0.
In the bottom of the first, with Conner Lemaster on first base, Johnson Central got a two-out double by Keygan Pelfrey. Campbell left fielder Caeleb James threw out Pelfrey at third before Lemaster reached home plate, and it remained 2-0.
In the second inning, the Camels had two outs and nobody on. Vineyard and Clark singled.
Gross lofted a fly ball down the left-field line that left fielder Matt Crum tried to make a diving catch on. The ball hit Crum and went foul, and was ruled fair, giving Gross a two-run double. The ball might have landed foul if Crum hadn’t touched it.
Riley added an RBI single to put the Camels up, 5-0.
Campbell County led 9-0 after its half of the third inning. Vineyard drew a bases-loaded walk. Clark hit an RBI single, and Gross hit a two-run single for his third and fourth RBI.
In the fourth, a two-run double by James, and an RBI single by Clark for his fourth hit of the night made it 13-2 with two outs.
“It felt really good,” Clark said. “It was rewarding, all the hard work this year. To come out here first round of the state tournament and go 4-for-4, really help the team, it felt good.”
JC went to its fifth pitcher of the game. Tyler Fowler reached on an error with the bases loaded to lead 14-2.
The Camels will battle a McCracken County team that has a deep history of long tournament runs and was state runner-up last year.
“If we play our game, we’ll have a chance,” Schweitzer said. “I’ll do the best I can do to make sure they’re prepared to play their game.”
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