Simon Kenton baseball hoping for historic Monday

Simon Kenton catcher Michael Mundy has been calling pitches since he was in Little League. He's earned his coaches' trust with consistent performances at every level. He'll be behind the plate Monday at 6 p.m. when the Pioneers play Southwestern in a KHSAA State Baseball tournament first-round game at Whitaker Bank Ballpark in Lexington.

The winner faces either Hazard or McCracken County in Wednesday's 6 p.m. quarterfinal. The semifinals are Friday, with the final scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday.

"Michael doesn't get enough credit, and we're hoping we get a big win," Simon Kenton coach Troy Roberts said of his third-year starting backstop. "He works hard for us. He's been calling pitches since the middle of his sophomore year. Him and the whole team; they've really worked hard to get us here."

They're hoping it's going to be a historic Monday with Mundy in the middle of everything. The University of Cincinnati-Clermont recruit is calling every pitch for starter Tristen Marcum. He's hitting third in the order with a .319 batting average. As one of nine seniors, he'll be making sure the Pioneers are focused and giving maximum effort.

"Nobody wants this to end. Everybody wants to keep playing," Mundy said. "Getting focused and playing as well as we can is really important. Right now, we're playing well."

The Pioneers have been a streaky team while compiling a 22-16 record. But they're in the middle of another hot streak, with five consecutive wins for the third time, all in the postseason. It's carried them to the state tournament for the first time in program history with their first Eighth Region tournament championship, and has them looking for their first win beyond the regional round.

Simon Kenton has outscored its past five opponents, 32-5, with a team ERA of less than 1.00. They won five straight at the end of April, outscoring foes, 33-13. They won five in a row at the end of March with a 38-6 margin. The common denominator during the streaks has been strong pitching, boosted by Mundy's ability to ask for the right pitch at the right time.

"When we've played well, it's all been attributed to the starting pitching and defense, and Michael has been a big part of that," said Roberts, who has guided the Pioneers to at least 20 wins each of his first three seasons. "You can talk all you want about the runs we scored, but when we've been been in a streak, we got good pitching, and that's what we're getting now. When we get good pitching, we tend to play good defense. When you get those, it makes hitting easier."

They boast five .300 hitters at the top of the lineup, with leadoff man Travis Bryson pacing the Pioneers with a .407 batting average and .475 on-base percentage. When the Thomas More College recruit gets on first with second base open, he's as good as gone, with 22 stolen bases in 25 attempts. He's followed by .363 hitter Price Burge, Mundy, home run leader Sean Lawrence (.333), Governor's Scholar Grant Wassom (.325), RBI leader Tyler Smith, and Marcum, another UC-Clermont recruit.

Lawrence has been the ace, with an 8-1 record, 1.09 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 57-1/3 innings. He's available Wednesday. Marcum is 6-3 with a 1.48 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 66 innings. Smith is 4-5 with a 3.74 ERA. The coach said Smith will start Wednesday, should the Pioneers advance.

"We'll bring back Lawrence in the semifinals if we're lucky enough to get that far," Roberts said. "We're confident in all three, and our closer (Garrett Ainsworth). They know how to pitch."

Smith said he'll be ready Wednesday, but he's not looking past 12th Region champion Southwestern (27-12). "You can't play game two if you don't win game one," said Smith, a tri-captain along with Lawrence and Wassom. "Everybody's pumped."

Roberts said the Warriors are a handful, led by junior shortstop/pitcher Jacob Burchett. "Everything goes though him. They're going to be a tough out, but who isn't at this point," the coach said. "The word I get is that they're scrappy, and a very confident team. They won't overpower you with any power arms, but they have good pitching. And their hitters will hang in there and not strike out very much."