Dixie's King tosses no-hitter in win vs. St. Henry
Ace pitcher Nick King was dominant and the Dixie Heights bats were potent Thursday night in the Colonels' 11-1 statement win over St. Henry to clinch the 34th District's top seed.
King served up a five-inning no-hitter, while his offense backed him up with plenty of run support by pounding out 12 hits, including 11 in the final three innings of the game.
While King admittedly had trouble finding his rhythm and was uncomfortable with his footing on the mound, he was unhittable when he found the strike zone. Despite not having his best stuff, the senior showed his maturity and experience by battling through the adversity and serving up his first no-hitter of his career. The lanky righty mixed in a hard-breaking curveball with a high-80s fastball that kept hitters off balance.
"I've seen him a lot better," Dixie coach Chris Maxwell said. "He couldn't get comfortable out there, and I think a part of it was that he hadn't thrown in a week and a half. I thought he got better as the game went along."
King added that slowing down and taking something off of his pitches helped him get into a groove as the game went along,
"When I'm more relaxed I feel like I pitch better, and in these big games I'm just going out there and trying to throw as hard as I can and I just needed to relax," King said. "I went to the curveball and I felt great throwing that."
The Colonels took the lead in the bottom of the third inning.
After an interference call emptied the bases, leadoff hitter Ethan Harrison started the two-out rally with a sharply hit single into left field. He then stole second, and came around to score when Adam Daria collided with St. Henry first baseman Lars Meiman, who had to reach back into the baseline for an errant throw from the shortstop, jarring the ball loose. The error extended the inning and proved costly for the Crusaders.
Hank Kerns singled up the middle, and then cleanup hitter Seth Capel drove the ball off the wall in left field for a two-RBI double to give Dixie the 3-0 lead.
St. Henry manufactured it's only run of the game in the top of the fourth inning when Eric Nortmann was walked before advancing to second when the next hitter walked, going to third on a wild pitch, and then scoring on a groundout by Dakota Graue.
That'd be all the Crusaders would get as King struck out five of the final six batters he faced, including striking out the side in the top of the fifth.
Tony LaCorte started the game for St. Henry and pitched three-plus innings, giving up eight runs, five earned, on eight hits, before giving way to Josh Kliesinger in the bottom of the fourth.
The Colonels got great production out of the bottom part of their batting order. Six-hole hitter Evan Hicks finished the game 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored, No. 7 hitter Matt Wehrle scored two runs, Jonathan Breeden was 3-for-3 with a run scored and Chris Ruedebusch was 1-for-2 with two RBI and two runs scored.
Ruedebusch's single down the right field line scored Hicks and Wehrle in the bottom of the fourth, Breeden came home on an RBI single by Harrison and then Ruedebusch and Harrison both scored on a well-executed suicide squeeze play by Daria, with Ruedebusch coming home on the pitch and Harrison wheeling around from second and scoring on the throw to first.
Dixie, ranked No. 1 in the Northern Kentucky Enquirer coaches' poll and still yet to lose against in-state competition, finishes district play on Friday against Lloyd, and then takes on No. 3 Beechwood, No. 2 CovCath and No. 8 Cooper all in a row next week.
W–King (6-0). L–LaCorte. Leaders: D–Harrison 2-3, 2 RBI; Kerns 2-3, RBI; Hicks 2-3, Breeden 3-3. Records: D 23-1, S 10-16.
Friday's schedule
(All times 5 p.m. unless noted)
BASEBALL
Holmes at Villa Madonna
Covington Catholic at Holy Cross
Ryle at Tates Creek, 5:30 p.m.
St. Patrick at Calvary Christian, 5:45 p.m.
Bishop Brosssart at George Rogers Clark, 6:30 p.m.
Boone County at Trinity, 6:30 p.m.
Beechwood at Anderson, 7 p.m.
Walton-Verona at Simon Kenton, 7 p.m.
Conner at Barren County, 7 p.m.
Campbell County at Boyd County, 7 p.m.
SOFTBALL
Lloyd at Highlands
Notre Dame at Holy Cross
Walton-Verona at Boone County
Scott at Grant County, 6 p.m.
Campbell County at Calvary Christian, 6 p.m.