Warren East’s baseball season is extending farther than the District 14 Tournament for the first time since 2011.
The Raiders played dominant all-around baseball to upset No. 2 South Warren, 12-1, in the semifinals of this year’s District Tournament to advance to Wednesday’s championship game and also the Region 4 Tournament at Western Kentucky University.
South Warren and Warren East met in both the semifinals of the 2015 and 2016 District 14 tournaments, with the Spartans winning both games – with last year’s postseason meeting being a 2-0 decision. This time around, the outcome was different.
East (25-7) played with a passion that indicated it wanted to see its season continue – and by firing on all cylinders, its reward is just that.
“To do it the way we did it was really special,” WEHS coach Wes Sanford said. “These guys went home crying last year – we felt like we had a pretty good chance to beat them – but to have the hunger and desire to come back and want to get some revenge was really nice to see out of these kids.”
The Raiders began their offensive-powered outing by taking advantage of multiple South Warren (19-18) miscues in the opening inning. Spartans’ starter Zack Beckner walked both Dakota Basham and Ty Stringfield to begin the game and a wild pitch later scored Basham to tally the contest’s first run.
Soon after, Colson Elkins crossed the plate on a bases-loaded walk before Chauncey Greer’s two-run double gave East a 4-0 advantage after just a half inning of action.
“They’ve been playing really well for about a month and a half now,” Sanford stated. “There early in the year we were not playing well; we were winning games but I wasn’t happy. They’ve just been playing together. They’ve lost their selfishness and care for each other and are playing for each other. That’s been the difference.”
Louisville commit Ryan Hawks leadoff the third with a solo homerun before Ty Colson’s RBI single added another run. With Greer and Colson both on, Austin Hymer doubled to score both runners and increase the Raiders’ advantage to 8-0.
It wasn’t long before Hawks came up big again – recording a three-run double to make it 11-0. A wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth plated another Warren East baserunner and had it up 12-0 entering the bottom of the fifth inning – which would be the final frame due to the KHSAA’s 10-run lead after five innings rule.
“We have a lot of confidence going into tomorrow,” Hawks said. “We put up a lot of runs (tonight).”
Baylor signee Davion Downey, who pitched a complete game for the Raiders, gave up his first hit of the night on A.J. Isable’s solo homerun in that final set, but East was already well on its way to the next round.
Warren East will meet fourth-seeded Greenwood at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the championship game – one that is important to everyone involved.
“It’s gonna be a big game,” added Sanford. “They just knocked off the No. 1 seed and they’re gonna be riding high. We just have to make sure that we’re ready to play. We can enjoy this tonight, but tomorrow is important. You don’t want to put yourself in a tough situation in that (Region 4) draw.”
