Conner belts Boyd County in state tournament opener

LEXINGTON – The motto for the Conner baseball team this postseason has been, "Fear The Beard," in honor of head coach Brad Arlinghaus' long scraggly beard, but it may turn into, "Fear the Cougars' lineup."

Conner got the usual production from the top five hitters in its lineup, but also got productivity from three of its bottom four hitters, too, and rolled to a 12-0 victory over Boyd County in the first round of the state tournament on Tuesday afternoon at Whitaker Bank Ballpark. The game was called after six innings by the 10-run mercy rule.

Conner (26-9), which has won 10 straight games and recorded a shutout for the fourth time in six postseason games, advances to Thursday's 6 p.m. quarterfinal round game against North Bullitt (29-10), which beat Elizabethtown, 6-5, earlier Tuesday.

Senior right-hander Cameron Ross improved to 8-0 on the season by tossing four innings of two-hit shutout baseball and the Cougars had seven different starters drive in a run.

The first five hitters in Conner's lineup – Ross, junior center fielder Blaise Ostertag, senior shortstop Jared Williams, senior catcher Blake Hart and junior first baseman Ryan Ward – combined to go 10 for 17 and were on base 13 of 20 plate appearances, scored 10 runs and drove in nine.

"Coach Arlinghaus said all year we have the best top five in Northern Kentucky, but now that we're down here at state I'd take us against anybody else down here," said Ross, who was 3 for 3 with a double, three runs scored, an RBI and a stolen base. "We had tough at bats today and came ready to compete every single at bat. We let the bad pitches go and sat on the good pitches."

No. 6 hitter Dalton Harshbarger, who is a senior, also went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored, while junior Dillon Lockstead, the No. 7 hitter went 1 for 3 with an RBI and No. 9 hitter Jeff Schneider, who is a junior, was also 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored.

"The bottom of our lineup has struggled for a big part of the year, but here in the tournament they've definitely stepped it up," said Arlinghaus. "Our two-out hitting has just been outstanding since the district tournament. We've probably got about 10 RBI with two outs."

After scoring a run in the top of the first when Ross led off with a single, stole second, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a single by Ostertag, the Cougars scored three runs in the second inning, all with two outs.

With Harshbarger on second and two outs, Boyd County senior starter Billy McCoy got ahead of Schneider 1-2, but Schneider then drilled a double down the third base line to score Harshbarger. Ross followed with a double in almost the exact same place to plate Schneider and Ostertag looped a triple down the line in right to score Ross and give Conner a 4-0 lead.

The Cougars then scored four more runs in the fifth, with the big blow being the left-handed hitting Hart's bases-loaded double down the line in right scoring all three runners. Ward followed with an RBI double to make it 8-0 and chase McCoy, who entered the game with 7-3 record and 0.97 ERA.

That lead also allowed Arlinghaus to pull Ross after four innings. Freshman Nick Craddock and Hart each pitched a scoreless inning in relief to combine for the shutout. It was the first time this season that Boyd County had been blanked.

"We'll take a mercy rule anytime, but we were just hoping to get up and save him a little bit," said Arlinghaus. "He's had some shoulder problems and we're always aware of that so it was good to get him out."

Ross, who is eligible to pitch on Thursday but will probably only be used in relief, struggled with his command early in the game and worked out of a jam in each of the first two innings. He got out of two-on, one-out situation in the first inning and left the bases loaded in the second when he battled back from a 2-0 count to induce Jacob Barnwell to fly to right on a 3-2 pitch. Ross retired the side in order in both the third and fourth and recorded three of his five strikeouts in those innings.

"I warmed up in the bullpen and then we had a long period of time before I actually went out to the mound so my arm got a little tight again," said Ross, whose fastball topped out at 85 mph. "It took me awhile to loosen back up. My curveball wasn't working in the bullpen so I was trying to get that going during my time on the mound. (The umpire) had a tight zone at first and I was just missing my spots a little bit and those were turning into balls and not strikes. I started getting my slider working and started pitching backwards (using off-speed pitches first and the fastball in spots) and that really kept them off balance."

Conner scored four more runs in the sixth, with Ward drilling a two-run single and Harshbarger and Lockstead following with RBI singles.

"I think our pitching and our defense can keep us in any game," said Ross. "If we bring the bats anything like we did today we're going to do what we need to do to win down here."

Conner 12, Boyd County 0 (6 innings)

WP-Ross (8-0). LP-McCoy (7-4). Hitting Leaders: C-Ross 3-3, 2B; Ostertag 3-3, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI; Hart 2B, 3 RBI; Ward 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Harshbarger 2-4; Schneider 2B. BC-Purscelley 2-2. Records: Conner 26-9, Boyd County 22-16.