The Oldham County Colonels (16-5) bounced back in dominant fashion with a 16-6 run-rule win in five innings against the South Oldham Dragons (9-11), splitting the season series on Wednesday, April 24.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Oldham County head coach Bo Akers said. “We executed our game plan really well tonight, took a really aggressive at bats. Kian [Vorster] is a really good arm. We understand that he is hard to beat. We did a good job fighting through his innings and trying to get something going. We were pretty confident that we would hit the bullpen well, and we did… [Logan] Simpson did a great job starting, did a great job working through it. We had a low moment with an error but fought through that. I thought they responded well the entire game.”
South Oldham head coach Troy Blakely knows his team is sitting where they thought they would be at this point in the year.
“We didn’t think that we would lose that baseball game but hats off to them,” Blakely said. “They came out [Wednesday] and changed what they did, and they really hit the ball well. Bo does a great job with that program over there. Those guys played really well [Wednesday]. They walked away with the win that they deserved, and we walked away with a loss that we deserved.”
Oldham County senior Logan Simpson started the game, tossing two innings while senior William Kieswetter came in relief to throw two innings. Junior Logan Slechter closed out the game with one inning of work and throwing three strikeouts.
“That was our plan all along,” Akers said. “Simpson, when he’s on, is unhittable. He really is. He’s thrown a no-hitter already this year. His stuff moves like crazy. He had the wind going with him [Wednesday], so his fastball was running about a foot and a half. Will and him both have about a 1.90 or two flat ERAs. We went with both those guys. It was a nice mix and match… Slechter is our closer. I know the score was a little out of it, but we wanted to finish that game right there. He did a great job executing too.”
South senior Kian Vorster started the game, throwing 2.2 innings while striking out four batters. Junior Cooper Robertson came in relief followed by sophomore Dawson Russell, throwing 1.2 innings. Freshman Hayden Barnett closed out the game for the Dragons.
“I’m not so sure they had very many earned runs,” Blakely said. “It’s not just that Kian faltered there at the end of his outing. It’s not just that. There was a lot of things [Wednesday]. We’ll build on them, but it’s baseball. We’ll play again tomorrow. We have some things to clean up. The advantage is we learned it today instead of at the end of the year.”
Senior Coen Ball and sophomore Daniel Stewart had a 3-for-4 day at the plate. Stewart batted in three runs while Ball batted in two. Juniors Josiah McCall and Clay Cartledge went 2-for-3. McCall had three RBIs, and Cartledge had two.
“We saw a stronger arm the second time around,” Stewart said. “We saw [Vorster] again, and then, they took him out. We had a lesser arm [up on the mound]. We were able to capitalize on that.”
South junior Caleb Jones batted one run in on an RBI double.
Vorster opened the game with a three up, three down top of the first inning for the Dragons. Simpson allowed a walk but stranded the runner to end the bottom of the first inning for the Colonels. Vorster threw another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the second.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Dragon offense produced some runs. They loaded the bases on walks before an error scored two runs, giving them a 2-0 lead. Stewart ended the second inning catching a South runner stealing third base.
Oldham County responded in the top of the third inning. Two walks and a wild pitch put two runners in scoring position. McCall knocked both runners in on a two-run single to tie the game. After McCall was caught stealing second, the Colonels put runners on the corners in the next two at bats.
Ball gave Oldham County the lead on an RBI single. In the next at bat, junior Noah Stinson scored on a wild pitch before Stewart hit a bloop single, scoring another run to give the Colonels a 5-2 lead. Robertson came on to the mound for the Dragons and picked up the final out on a runner getting caught stealing home.
“It’s huge when you have a lineup that bats so good all the way through,” McCall said. “There’s no drop off in our lineup whatsoever, hitting the ball one through nine. My importance is the least, but I’m glad I could execute my job.”
South Oldham answered back in the bottom of the third. The Dragons put two runners on before Kieswetter came into the game for the Colonels. Jones hit an RBI double before senior Aaron Frantz put down a bunt to score a run, cutting their deficit to 5-4. Kieswetter ended the third inning on a pop up and fly out.
Oldham County stayed hot in the top of the fourth inning. After a walk, Cartledge batted in a run on a double. McCall followed with an RBI double of his own. After a South pitching change, Oldham County put a run across on an error that allowed senior Jaxon Perkins to reach third base. Perkins scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Logan Edsell.
The Colonels put two more runners on with an error and an infield single by Ball before Stewart hit an RBI single. Junior Jackson Martin and Cartledge added to their total in the inning on RBI singles to give them a 12-4 lead.
“We applied more pressure,” Akers said. “That was really the conversation that we were having [Tuesday] was that we’re going to come out here, Monday we were too timid and that was mostly on me, and we’re going to get aggressive. We did get thrown out a couple of times, but we’re just going to try to apply pressure as much as possible.”
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Dragons cut into their deficit. Junior Davis Larsen and sophomore Boone Dillon singled. They scored on a wild pitch and balk later in the inning. Kieswetter ended the fourth with a ground out.
With one out in the top of the fifth, Edsell singled but was caught stealing in the next at bat by Jones. Simpson singled followed by an RBI triple by Ball to start a two-out rally. Stewart plated Ball on an RBI single. Barnett went on the mound for South.
After a double by Martin, Oldham County scored two runs on an error on a throw to first base, putting them in position to win by run-rule in the bottom of the fifth. Barnett ended the top of the fifth with a fly out. Slechter closed out the game with three strikeouts, giving the Colonels a 16-6 run-rule win.
“We really just needed to stay confident,” McCall said. “We honestly did not have our best game Monday, but we came to practice Tuesday with a good mindset, and that showed [Wednesday].”
Oldham County will be on the road against the Shelby County Rockets (9-13) on Friday, April 26 at 6 p.m.
“It’s a battle, stay focused, keep the adrenaline going, keep the momentum, keep rowing in the same direction,” Akers said. “We have a great group. They know they’re a great group. I’m aware they’re a great group. We love each other. It’s fun, but now, it does turn into how do we keep getting better as a program, because we’re talking about big goals. We’ve already had a great season. That’s been a mission accomplished at this point, but now, we’re talking about bigger goals.”
South Oldham will look to get back on track against the DeSales Colts (16-7) on Saturday, April 27 at 11 a.m.
“We’re going to show up and start playing again, that’s just what we do,” Blakely said. “We’ll practice [Thursday] and Friday. We go to a very good DeSales team on Saturday. That’s the good thing about baseball is no matter what happens today, you get to play again tomorrow.”