In a year in which Elizabethtown sports had come a long way, it seemed destined that the Panther Baseball team would somehow find a way to overcome a 5-1 deficit in the first round of the KHSAA State Baseball Tournament.
But for the first time since the playoffs began, Panther coach Chase Greenwell’s team simply didn’t have an answer against a very determined Collins team and had their season ended three games shy of their goal which was the Championship game in Lexington.
The Titans finally found the answer to Elizabethtown pitcher Jacob Moberly’s, got some timely hitting and some smart base running to take advantage of Panther mistakes and senior hurler Ty Foree did a marvelous job keeping the Panthers off balance despite having runners in scoring position in several innings. Foree, also got the benefit of two double plays by his infield while stranding several Panthers. The Asbury signee scattered six hits in six innings of work and walked just two.
Moberly got through the first two innings until Drake Ballard greeted him with a leadoff triple and then Trent Floden got him home for the first run of the game with a sacrific fly in the top of the third to take a 1-0 lead for Collins and the Titans added another run in the top of the fourth with a two-out single by Bradley Williams to make it 2-0.
Moberly did help his cause with a sacrific fly of his own that got the first Elizabethtown run home to cut the lead to 2-1, but things got worse for him in the top of the fifth when he walked Ballard and Floden. A double play grounder erased two of the runners, but with Ballard at third, Foree stroked a line drive that got a run home. Zach Gutermuth walked, then Donavin Carroll’s single scored Foree’s pinch runner (Caleb Bailey) and Gutermuth scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-1 Collins. All, but one of the Titans runs came with two-out.
Ironically, Foree, who would get the win was not listed as a pitcher during the 2019 season and was pressed on to the mound because of injuries issues would finish with nine-wins, while pitching 68-innings, but thanks to a couple double plays early and the run production by his teammates, Collins will make a trip to Legends Field in Lexington this week.
With a 5-1 lead after six-innings, Donavin Carroll was brought in the seventh to finish things off and the Panthers did make things a little interesting with a couple runs produced by RBI hits by Eli Brown and Bryce Estes, but Ryan Pyles strikeout ended the game.
Elizabethtown’s season ends at 24-15, but it was quite a finish as they came a long way the past several weeks. Greenwell in his first full season got his team to a State Tournament game and the seven seniors lost could hurt as Moberly, Williams, Brandon Parsons, Bowen, Adams, Pyles and Eli Brown comprised over half the defensive makeup and 15-wins of the ptiching staff.
Meanwhile, Collins will face McCracken County Wednesday at 5:00 in Lexington for a chance to advance to the Final Four.
