Lawrence Co. squeaks by P-Burg in Region 15 opener, face Pikeville tonight
Robinson Creek, Ky. — For a Lawrence County team loaded with upperclassman it was sophomore Peyton Cyrus getting the walk off hit to score sophomore Brad Parks to send the Dawgs into the semifinals with a 7-6 win over Prestonsburg last night. It was a muggy Memorial Day in the first round of the 15th region baseball tournament at Shelby Valley.
8th grader CJ Fairchild picked up the win in relief with two shutout innings allowing no hits, 1 walk and striking out three for the Dawgs. Austin Bailey started for LC and went 5 innings striking out six and getting the no decision.
Prestonsburg jumped out to 3-0 lead after one inning but Lawrence Co. answered with a 5 spot in the 2nd. The Blackcats tied it with two runs in the 5th before LC’s Brad Parks led off the last inning by reaching on an error. Bailey bunted for a hit and after an out was recorded, freshman Austin Roe got a pinch hit single to load the bases before Cyrus got the game winning hit with a sharp single to right field that set off a wild celebration from the Bulldog dugout.
Cyrus ended up 2-3 on the night, Bailey was also 2-3 with two runs scored and an RBI, Brad Parks scored two runs and Drake Barager chipped in with a single.
Lawrence Co. ( 25-9 ) will now face Pikeville ( 24-11 ) on Tuesday night at 8:30. The Panthers defeated Sheldon Clark 8-4 in the late game last night.
Shelby Valley beat Allen Central 9-5 in the first game and Johnson Central took care of Pike Co. Central in 5 innings those two teams will square off in the first semifinal at 6:00 on Tuesday night.
Pburg 3 0 1 0 2 0 0
LC 0 5 1 0 0 0 1
Lawrence Co. Head Coach Travis Feltner
COACH’S COMMENT
“…Not the start that we wanted, kinda had a eerie feeing to the region championship game last year when we fell behind 3-0. You never know how kids will respond until they are put in those spots, I challenged our kids last week and they really responded well.” Pburg is a solid team and they didn’t catch us off guard with anything we hadn’t seen, they are a capable team and made plays tonight.” Our kids grinded out the victory, Austin Roe has handled himself well in varsity action this year and earned that at bat and came up big.” Have to tip your hat to Peyron Cyrus he didn’t carry over the error in the field to his at bat and really came through for us.” Survive and Advance is the name of the game.”
Lawrence Co. Shortstop Peyton Cyrus
” …Just wanted to hit it hard somewhere and make sure I put it in play.” I had to make up for my costly error in the 5th inning, I knew my team was counting on me.” Feels really good to move on.”
Lawrence Co. 8th Grader CJ Fairchild
“… I was a little nervous because it was an elimination game and I didn’t want to let my teammates down, I feel like they have confidence in me.” The mound was a little high so I had to get used to that and once I did i had to keep them at six runs and if I did, I knew my teammates would come through.”
