KHSAA Sixth Region baseball: It's Bullitt East vs Fern Creek in Friday's championship game
His team started 0-3 and was 5-6 after a spring break trip to Florida, leaving Bullitt East High School baseball coach Jeff Bowles wondering if 2023 might be a lost season.
“We had to figure it out early on,” Bowles said. “I was legitimately concerned at the middle of the season. I was like, ‘Are we going to be a .500 team?’ Credit to them, they’ve figured it out.”
Especially on the mound.
Junior Tylan Hayden and freshman Chris Logan combined on a three-hitter to lead Bullitt East to a 7-1 victory over Southern on Wednesday in a semifinal of the Sixth Region tournament at the University of Louisville’s Jim Patterson Stadium.
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Bullitt East (21-13-1) has allowed a total of five runs through four postseason victories.
“Kids are really stepping up this time of year,” Bowles said. “They’re doing their jobs.”
Bullitt East will face Fern Creek in Friday’s 8 p.m. regional final at U of L. The Chargers’ last regional title came in 2016, and they’ve been the regional runners-up three times since.
“First thing of the year, we said, ‘Let’s strive to make it to the state championship,’” Hayden said. “Step by step, here we go. We’re not surprised at all. We know we’re a tough team to beat.”
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Hayden (3-2) allowed the run and three hits in four-plus innings of work. Logan walked two and struck out two in three scoreless innings of relief, earning his first save of the season.
Down 3-0, Southern got back-to-back singles from Jessed Morales and Lariel Torres to lead off the fifth inning and knock Hayden out of the game. Logan gave up a sacrifice fly to Alex Galan but nothing else.
“He’s not a freshman,” Bowles said of Logan. “I swear he’s 30 years old. He laughs, cuts up, never nervous. He has the ‘it’ factor, and I’m glad he’s going to be on our team for three more years.”
The Chargers broke it open with four runs in the sixth inning. They managed just one hit in the frame but took advantage of two Southern errors and two wild pitches.
The Trojans (19-11), who entered with a nine-game winning streak, finished with four errors.
“It’s 100% on me,” said Southern coach Jim Gross, who had just three seniors in the starting lineup. “I didn’t get them ready. I didn’t coach them well enough. They’d won a bunch of games in a row, and I didn’t prepare them for us.”
Junior third baseman Cade Owen was 2-for-4 with a double to lead Bullitt East’s six-hit attack. Senior shortstop Brayden Lewis gave the Chargers a 1-0 lead in the second inning with an RBI single.
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Bullitt East is the only team left in the regional with a winning record, but Bowles said he’s taking nothing for granted.
“I’m scared,” Bowles said, “but I’m glad we have a chance to be scared.”
BULLITT EAST 010 024 0 - 7 6 0
SOUTHERN 000 010 0 - 1 3 4
WP – Tylan Hayden (3-2). LP – Richard Hernandez (8-2). SV – Chris Logan (1).
Fern Creek 11, Bullitt Central 10
After allowing six runs in the top of the seventh inning, the Tigers (15-16) rallied for three runs in the bottom half to pull out a thrilling victory over the Cougars (12-20).
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Fern Creek’s Cole Johnson delivered a two-run double to right field to tie the score at 10. Bradley Jones singled to center field to score Johnson for the winning run.
The game ended at 12:29 a.m. after 3 hours, 48 minutes.
Down 8-4, Bullitt Central scored six runs in the top of the seventh to take a 10-8 lead. The Cougars took advantage of five walks and two hits against four different Fern Creek pitchers to take the lead.
Fern Creek is in the regional final for the second time in three years, having lost to DeSales 7-2 in the 2021 championship game.
The Tigers are 0-2 against Bullitt East this season, falling 15-6 on April 13 and 5-3 on May 17 in the final of the 24th District tournament.
BULLITT CENTRAL 000 112 6 - 10 7 2
FERN CREEK 000 035 3 - 11 10 2
WP – Ben Asher (1-2). LP – Jordan Powell (4-5).
Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @kyhighs.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KHSAA baseball results 2023: Fern Creek vs Bullitt East in 6th Region
