St. Xavier Defeats McCracken County 5-4 in Blockbuster State Semifinal
No. 3 St. Xavier (33-10) defeated No. 1 McCracken County (35-7) 5-4 on a cool, slightly rainy, summer Friday night at Kentucky Proud Park in the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop KHSAA baseball semifinals.
The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead thanks to a Cooper Smith triple and no-doubt home runs by Jake Bennett and Landon Akers off Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year Jack Bennett. Bennett leads the state with 14 home runs. Smith, who was a cornerback on the Tiger 6A champion football team, finished with three extra-base hits to key the offense.
The Mustangs loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the first, but U of L commit Ty Starke struck out Eli James to get out of the jam unscathed.
Smith tripled again to open the third while Jake Bennett and Jake Gregor walked for the Tigers, chasing Jack Bennett from the game. Reliever Caleb Ehling looked sharp, and limited the damage, allowing only Akers’ sacrifice fly to score Smith and make it 4-0 before getting out of the inning.
Miller Green singled, Jack Bennett walked, Nate Lang singled, and Zach Sims walked to put the Mustangs on the board, chasing Starke with no outs in the bottom of the third. However Lucas Lantz came out of the bullpen to get a strikeout, pop out, and grounder to first to maintain the 4-1 Tiger lead. It was the second time in three innings McCracken had left the bases loaded.
Both teams went 1, 2, 3 in the fourth. Smith doubled to open the fifth for St. Xavier, but great pitching from Ehling left him stranded.
Jack Bennett walked to start the bottom of the fifth and Lang doubled. A throwing error allowed both to score on the play cutting the Tiger lead to 4-3. Sims followed with a single and James moved him to second on a sacrifice bunt. Sims scored on Scout Moffatt’s RBI double, but Moffatt was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple, ending the inning with a tie score.
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Ehling, who was sensational in relief, held the Tigers scoreless in the top of the 6th before Ben Tedesco came in to pitch a 1, 2, 3 bottom of the 6th for St. X.
After striking out Smith, Ehling walked Jake Bennett in the seventh. Bennett stole second. After another Ehling punchout, Akers grounded to the pitcher but an Ehling throwing error allowed courtesy runner Alec Hildenbrand to score all the way from second base.
After allowing a double to Jack Bennett to open the bottom of the 7th, Tedesco got two strikeouts and a pop-out to preserve the 5-4 Tiger victory.
The Mustangs fell just short of their third straight finals appearance. After years of agonizing close calls, they will have to wait another year to try and win their first state baseball title. Several McCracken state tournament losses have come against the eventual state champion, with many coming only by one run. Lang and Jack Bennett were named to the all-tournament team.
The Tigers will face #17 Russell County in the state finals Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. EST. St. Xavier, which has not lost a state tournament game since 2013, is seeking their ninth state title, and fourth since 2014. Russell County, which defeated Woodford County 10-0 in the earlier semifinal, will start senior Cody Luttrell (12-0, 0.50 ERA). It is the Lakers’ first trip to the state finals. St. X may opt to throw Lousiville commit Jake Gregor (4-3, 2.82 ERA).
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