By Ryan Davenport, WSON Sports Correspondent 

The Henderson County Colonels faced off against the Lyon County Lyons in the Semi-finals of the 2nd Region Tournament in Henderson.

The Colonels would strike first in the bottom of the 1st inning with a RBI double by sophomore third baseman Cooper Vowels to give the Colonels a 1-0 lead heading into the top of the 2nd inning. 

The Lyons would get on the board in the top of the 2nd inning with a 2 RBI single from sophomore center fielder Turner Hurst to give the Lyons a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the 2nd.

In the bottom of the 2nd inning, the Colonels would score on a passed ball and on a 2 RBI single from senior pitcher Dru Meadows to give the Colonels a 4-2 lead. Then later in the bottom of the 2nd, a solo home run to deep left field by Colonel senior second baseman Brennan Cates gave the Colonels a 5-2 lead over the Lyons heading into the top of the 3rd inning. 

The Colonels would score again in the bottom of the 3rd inning on a ground out by junior shortstop Alec Satterfield to give the Colonels a 6-2 lead heading into the top of the 4th inning.

The Colonels would score 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th inning to extend their lead to 8-2 heading into the top of the 6th inning.

The Lyons would score in the top of the 6th inning on an RBI double by sophomore first baseman Brady Belt as they narrowed the deficit to 8-3 heading into the bottom of the 6th inning. 

 

A RBI single in the bottom of the 6th inning for the Colonel by senior first baseman Bryce Hayden would give the Colonels a 9-3 lead heading into the top of the 7th inning. 

 

In the top of the 7th inning, the Lyons would score 3 runs to narrow the Colonels lead to 9-6, but the Colonels wouldn’t allow anymore than 3 runs in the inning and the Colonels would survive with a 9-6 win over the Lyons to advance to the 2nd Region Championship game. The Colonels improve their record to (17-17) on the season while the Lyons end their season with a (21-10) record.

 

Colonel’s senior pitcher Dru Meadows was 2 for 2 with 3 RBI’s while senior second baseman Brennan Cates was 2 for 4 with a solo home run on the night. 

Colonels senior pitcher Dru Meadows went 4 and a ⅓ innings allowing 1 hits and 2 runs while walking 3 batters and recording 3 strikeouts on the night. Sophomore pitcher Dax Wilson relieved Meadows. Wilson pitched ⅔  of an inning and allowed 1 hit and 1 run.  Junior pitcher Reed Rheinhardt relieved Wilson. Rheinhardt pitched the last 1 and ⅓ innings and allowed  3 runs while walking 3 batters. Junior Paxton Gardner relieved Rheinhardt. Gardner pitched ⅔ of an inning allowing 1 hit and recording 1 strikeout to get the save.

 

 As a team, the Colonels scored 9 runs and recorded 9 hits, 7 RBI’s, 2 doubles, 1 home run, 2 errors, and 8 stolen bases on the night.

 

Player of the game for the Colonels was senior pitcher Brennan Cates. I asked Brennan how he felt like he performed in the game and how his team played and he responded with this, “We just came into the game really prepared, we knew we were going to face some good pitchers. We knew we had to bust out the gate early, we put up 5 runs in the first 2 innings and that set us up for success the whole way.”

 

Henderson County Colonels head coach Adam Hines talked about his team’s performance on the night, “Like I’ve told Steve (Tow) and those guys on the radio before the games that we are playing our best baseball and that’s all you can ask from this crew. Good pitching from Drew early. Good hitting, we did a good job with two good pitchers and kept scoring. Really gave some relief to our bullpen and helped us get some guys in to get some strikes going, but just a team effort. I could sit here and point out a million different individual things but we just played well overall.”

 

The Colonels will take on the Christian County Colonels tomorrow night, Tuesday May 23rd, at 6:00 P.M. in the 2nd Region Baseball Tournament Championship Game in Henderson at B.T. Wayne Field.