Apollo will open 3rd Region Baseball Tournament
Apollo High School will start off the 3rd Region Baseball Tournament in a 10 a.m. CT brunch matchup on Memorial Day at Breckinridge County High School.
Apollo takes on Grayson County, the 12th District champion, in that opening game Monday. Grayson County is 16-14 and beat Edmonson County 9-6 in the district championship game.
Apollo is No. 8 in the PBR Power 25 and 22-8, but it goes to the regional tournament as 9th District runner-up.
Owensboro Catholic beat Apollo 7-6 in nine innings in the 9th District championship game that had been delayed to Friday because of two straight late afternoon rain storms.
“Because of the confidence that I have in the group of guys that we get to run out there day in, day out, I was going to be OK with however the draw turned out,” Apollo coach Brandon Dennis said.
Apollo goes to the regional tournament again as a district runner-up, and last year Apollo won the 3rd Region championship and advanced to the final four of the KHSAA State Baseball Tournament.
“Last year, the team didn’t completely understand the position we were in due to the extended district tournament schedule,” Dennis said. “We had to make some tough decisions about how to play the district championship to make sure we were in the best possible situation to compete for the region. Unfortunately, this year played out exactly the same, but the great thing is that our guys fully understand the importance of setting up pitching for the region vs. winning the district tournament.”
Owensboro Catholic is 26-7 and ranked No. 11 in the PBR Power 25.
Catholic will meet Edmonson County at 4 p.m. Monday. Edmonson County is 22-9.
“We’re never looking past the first game,” Catholic coach Jody Hamilton said. “I don’t know much about Edmonson, but they’re usually very competitive in their district.”
Muhlenberg County will face Meade County at 1 p.m. Monday. Muhlenberg won the 10th District 11-1 over Ohio County.
Muhlenberg is 26-7 and ranked No. 18 in the PBR. Ohio County is 10-19-1.
Host Breckinridge County will meet Ohio County at 7 p.m. in the last game of the opening round.
Semifinal games will be Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
The championship game is scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Breck County won the 11th District, beating Meade County in the championship game 1-0.
Breck County is 16-14. Meade County is 19-18.
