LEXINGTON \u2014 A new school and spring training space give the Scott County baseball team ample room to hang bulletin board material, and the rest of the state has provided plenty of it in March.<\/p>\n
Despite the return of nine seniors and seven starters, Cardinal names were nowhere to be seen on a coaches\u2019 association watch list released this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI nominated some guys, and we didn\u2019t get any on there,\u201d Scott County skipper Scott Willard said. \u201cThat\u2019s going up in the locker room Wednesday.\u201d<\/p>\n
By then, SC had won a fashionable six of its first seven games, including an 8-2 victory Monday at Lafayette.<\/p>\n
The Cardinals topped the Generals for the fourth consecutive year and seventh time in their past nine meetings, among them 11th Region tournament battles back in 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was 80 degrees Saturday, and we\u2019re down here and it\u2019s in the 40s,\u201d Willard said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of one of those things where I thought we might struggle a little bit today, but they surprised me. They did a really good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will Rose was 3-for-4 with a double, RBI and stolen base to lead the Cardinals.<\/p>\n
The senior shortstop entered the game with nine hits in his first 16 at bats after leading the team with a .354 clip in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was hitting .560 going into today with two home runs, a double and nine RBI,\u201d Willard said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard when you\u2019re hitting .560 to bring your average up, but somehow he did. He\u2019s just been lights out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lafayette couldn\u2019t solve Jacob Skinner all evening. The sophomore parlayed his four plate appearances into two singles, two walks, two RBI and a stolen base.<\/p>\n
Keagan Hurt also singled for Scott County, which was out-hit seven to six but took full advantage of eight walks and seven steals.<\/p>\n
Parker Dotson and Colt Fields each knocked in a run. Duncan Stevens and Garrett Sparks drew a combined four free passes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the strengths of our team would be pitching, we\u2019d throw strikes, we\u2019d be able to catch the ball, and we have team speed and can steal bases,\u201d Willard said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t catch it great today, but up until this game we made one error in the first four games.\u201d<\/p>\n
SC never trailed. The Cards scored twice in the top of the second inning and added another in the third.<\/p>\n
Single runs from the Generals in the third and fourth frames tightened it up before SC secured insurance with two in the fifth and three in the sixth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey got it back to 3-2, and then we scored five unanswered, kind of pulled it on out there,\u201d Willard said. \u201cI thought that was big for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was redemption for Scott County\u2019s two pitchers, both of whom were hit hard in the Cardinals\u2019 lone loss of the opening week.<\/p>\n
Working on two days\u2019 rest after the abbreviated stint, Austin Davis scattered five hits over five innings, did not allow an earned run, struck out one and issued only one walk.<\/p>\n
Hurt struck out two and worked around two Lafayette singles in two scoreless relief innings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought today would be tough,\u201d Willard said. \u201cAustin hasn\u2019t got a lot of experience on the mound. He and Keagan didn\u2019t throw very well Friday night up in Grant County. They came back and did a great job today.\u201d<\/p>\n
SC used nine arms in its first five games and will need them all in what shapes up as a busy second week.<\/p>\n
After Tuesday\u2019s win at Woodford County, 15-5, the Cards outlasted Paul Laurence Dunbar, 14-12, on Wednesday. They make the short trip Friday to Lexington Catholic and host Shelby County on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first time we\u2019ve ever had district games before we go to Florida,\u201d Willard said, noting that spring break is essentially a week later than it was last season. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to try to get our pitching setup to go against Douglass on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tyler Wands and Dotson are expected to start those two contests for Scott County, which graduated its top pitcher of the past several years, Jack Willhite, to Division I Evansville.<\/p>\n
The Cardinals can put another disrespect card on the table as they roll into 42nd District play.<\/p>\n
\u201cHenry Clay, Douglass and Sayre are in there. Three teams from our district are in the top 25,\u201d Willard said. \u201cThey think we\u2019re No. 4 in the district.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of that, the coach acknowledged, might be due to the list of ranked teams Scott County will play this season.<\/p>\n
No. 7 Lexington Catholic, a team the Cardinals have beaten three of the past four years, is first in line.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we\u2019d do OK. The only thing that scared me a little bit, and it\u2019s all spring training until you get to district games, but our schedule is tough,\u201d Willard said. \u201cWe play nine of the top 25 in the preseason (poll).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEXINGTON \u2014 A new school and spring training space give the Scott County baseball team ample room to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[2315,2309,2351,5,2316,2323,2314,2317,2313,2325,3416,19,2310,2328,2304,2318,2308,2319,4,2305,2303,2307,2320,4101,2327,2321,185,2324,2560,2350,2311,2312,1039],"class_list":["post-647532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb-postseason","tag-athletic-sports","tag-ball-and-bat-games","tag-base-on-balls","tag-baseball","tag-baseball-competitions","tag-baseball-events","tag-baseball-finals","tag-baseball-games","tag-baseball-playoffs-and-champions","tag-baseball-teams","tag-earned-run","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-major-league-baseball-competitions","tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","tag-major-league-baseball-seasons","tag-major-league-baseball-teams","tag-major-league-baseball-teams-seasons","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-mlb-postseason","tag-outdoor-sports","tag-pitcher","tag-relief-pitcher","tag-seasons-in-american-sport","tag-seasons-in-baseball","tag-sports","tag-sports-events","tag-stolen-base","tag-strikeout","tag-team-sports","tag-turf-sports","tag-world-series"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}