LEXINGTON — History is made.
Jeremy Shope’s Whitley County Colonels captured the baseball program’s first-ever state championship and became the first 13th Region team to accomplish the feat by defeating Shelby County, 2-1, in Saturday’s 2023 Clark’s Pump-N-Shop State Baseball Tournament Championship Game.
Tournament Most Valuable Player, Grant Zehr, notched his second victory in the state tournament while tossing a complete game, giving up three hits, and one earned run. He also struck out three batters, throwing 96 pitches with 60 of those going for strikes.
Zehr pitched in all four games of the state tournament, going 2-0 with two saves while garnering a 2.17 ERA. He tossed 16 1/3 of an inning, allowing only 12 hits, and five earned runs.
The Colonels’ (39-4) state championship run saw them win a program-best 39 games, capture the Kentucky 2A, Section 7 championship, and finish runner-up in the Kentucky 2A’s State Tournament before winning the state’s biggest championship on the biggest stage — Kentucky Proud Park.
“I’m speechless,” Shope said. “This is unbelievable. What a special group to come through here. Tonight, we state champions, and what a special moment.
“Grant Zehr is as steady as they come, and as competitive as they come,” he added. “Our defense played great, and played unbelievable dFew as during the postseason. When you have pitching and defense, you can win many ball games.”
Bryce Anderson led Whitley County with a 3-for-3 effort while recording a walk, and scoring once. Matthew Wright was 2-for-3 with a stolen base while Sam Harp turned in a 1-for-2 effort with an RBI, a walk, and a stolen base.
Harp came up huge on the basepaths, stealing home with two outs in the sixth inning to give the Colonels a much-needed insurance run.
The fireworks started early for Whitley County with Bryce Anderson leading the game off with a triple. He eventually scored on a ground-out by Sam Harp, giving the Colonels a 1-0 lead.
Whitley County got into a jam at the bottom of the second after Zehr walked Hunter Cook to lead off the inning. Myles Strong reached base after hitting into a fielder’s choice. Jaxson Carter followed with a hit while Freddie Stohlman reached base after hitting in a fielder’s choice. Zehr got out of the inning after throwing out Stohlman, who attempted to steal second base.
The Colonels threatened in the top of the third inning after stringing together consecutive hits with two outs.
Anderson collected his second hit of the game while Zehr followed with a single to put runners on first and second. Harp followed with a pop-out to end the inning.
Whitley County managed to increase its lead to 2-0 in the top of the sixth inning thanks to a lead-off walk to Harp. Both Hunter Wilson and Mason Croley followed with flouts before a single by Matthew Wright put runners on first third with two outs.
The Colonels got aggressive and attempted a double steal that worked, as Harp stole home, and Wright stole second to give Whitley County a two-run advantage.
The Rockets answered in the bottom of the sixth with Foster Whisman connecting with a run-scoring single that scored Kemper Whisman, cutting Shelby County’s deficit to 2-1. Zehr got out of the jam without any other trouble.
After going without a hit in the top of the seventh inning, Whitley County was only three outs away from capturing its first-ever state championship.
Zehr remained calm, cool, and collected, retired three of the four batters he faced to seal the state title run for the Colonels.
It marked the first time a Whitley County High School sports program won a state championship since the girls’ basketball team won the state championship in 1985.
Zehr, Croley, and Wright were named to the State Tournament All-Tournament Team while Andrew Stack was the recipient of the Logan Billings Memorial Scholarship.
2023 Clark’s Pump-N-Shop
Baseball State Tournament
Championship
Whitley County 2, Shelby County 1
Whitley County 100 001 0 2 6 0
Shelby County 000 001 0 1 3 0
WP: Zehr (10-2). LP: Wills (7-2).
LOB: Colonels 6, Rockets 4; 3B: Anderson (WC); HMP: Anderson (WC), K. Whisman (SC); SB: Harp (WC), Wright (WC); CS: White (SC), Stohlman (SC).
