University Heights Academy’s magical run in the KHSAA State Baseball Tournament came to an end Saturday afternoon as Boyd County defeated the Blazers 9-3 at Legends Field in Lexington.
The quarterfinal loss ended the Blazers’ season at 30-9. It was a season that saw UHA win 30 games in a season for the first time, claim an All “A” State Baseball Tournament championship, and win their first Region 2 title in school history.
UHA Head Coach Michael Crow said he was proud of his team and the season it had.
The seventh-ranked Blazers had the first scoring opportunity in the top of the second inning when AJ Hogart slammed a leadoff triple into the right-centerfield gap. However, he was thrown out at the plate on a sharp groundball to third.
The Blazers took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning off University of Alabama commit Grant Slater. With two out, Ryan Luckey drew a walk and Cadence Gibson tripled to score Luckey for a 1-0 advantage. Hayden Hunt drew a walk and stole second base. Hogart’s ground ball was misplayed at third base and both Gibson and Hunt scored.
Hunt started on the mound for UHA and was cruising until the bottom of the third inning. The 19th-ranked Lions (28-7) used a pair of hits, a walk and a wild pitch to cut the lead to 3-2.
Crow said the Lions were able to steal some momentum away and the Blazers could not get it back.
Boyd County grabbed a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Josh Kelley led off with a walk and scored on a double by Jace Manning. Hunt retired the next two batters, but Slater singled and Alex Maynard reached on an error. A single by Connor Davis pushed across the sixth run.
The Lions scored their final three runs in the bottom of the fifth as Brady Biggs and Josh Kelley each walked. After a strkeout, Kaleb Kelley singled to score a run to push the lead to 7-3. Maynard added a two-run, two-out single to make it 9-3.
Crow said Boyd County’s aggressiveness on the basepaths also bothered his team.
Slater settled in during the middle portion of the game. He gave way to Isaac Leeper and the two Lions’ pitchers retired eight straight Blazers.
In the top of the seventh, Josh Pace drew a one-out walk. After Luckey flew out to center field, Cadence Gibson singled and Hunt was hit by a pitch to load the bases. However, Hogart’s grounder up the middle was snagged by second baseman Josh Kelley who threw the UHA clean-up batter out at first to end the game.
Hunt suffered the pitching loss. The senior right-hander went 3 2/3 innings and struck out six while walking three and giving up five runs.
Slater earned the win, going five innings. He struck out five and walked four while giving up three runs.
UHA was held to only four hits the game with Cadence Gibson leading the way with a triple and single. After the game, Gibson was announced as earning a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
The senior said preparation paid off for him at the plate on Saturday.
Boyd County advanced to play No. 3-ranked McCracken County, which defeated No. 6 Sayre 6-1 in the first game on Saturday. They will meet in the semifinals Friday morning at the University of Kentucky.
Score by Innings:
University Heights 003 000 0 – 3 4 2
Boyd County 002 430 x – 9 8 2
WP – Slater
LP – Hunt (3 2/3 IP, 6 SO, 3 BB).
Leading Hitters: UHA – Ca. Gibson (3B, 1B), Hogart (3B), Jackson Flynn (1B).
Photos by Peyton Biaquis