LEXINGTON — The No. 3 McCracken Mustangs will return to Lexington next weekend in the 2024 Clark's Pump N Shop Baseball State Tournament Final Four after defeating Ryle in a 4-1 finish on Saturday afternoon at Legends Field with outstanding work on the mound by senior Caleb Ehling.
"Our bullpen is mad because they didn't get to work this weekend, but we have a great bullpen. We have got five or six pitchers that I feel like could do what Caleb [Ehling] and Miller [Green] did, but we thought they were the best matchups for us," McCracken County head coach Zach Hobbs said. "Caleb's as competitive as anybody in the program and did a great job. He threw some big 2-0 pitches, but those were manly pitches like I talked about yesterday. When you can throw offspeed pitches and positive counts for strikes in high school baseball, it's a game changer."
"[On the Mustang pitching staff] It gives us just a multitude of confidence. We are the most confident, and I can say that with confidence," Ehling said. "We have a vision, and our goal is to win a state championship. We're going to work our butts off to get back to the state championship and hopefully beat Trinity."
Offensively, the Mustangs collected seven hits. Kendrick Dunning and Casey Hawes went 2-for-3 in the win. Scout Moffatt, Miller Green, and Caden Kern collected a hit for McCracken County.
Green's lone hit kicked off scoring for the Mustangs in the bottom of the first inning with an RBI triple to send Moffatt home and give McCracken County a quick 1-0 lead. The score moved to 2-0 as Eli James reached on an error, allowing Green to touch home plate safely.
"We work so hard, and this is a kids' game. It's a young man's game, not a coaches' game," Hobbs said. "We're here to do whatever we can to give these guys the opportunity to be successful as a coaching staff, and that's what we're trying to do. We have a bunch of kids who love to play baseball and compete, and we love to be around them and go along on this ride with them. We get to play baseball another week."
Ryle threatened in the top of the second inning with a lead-off single to center field. However, the Raiders were doubled up with a web gem from Gage Dugan in left field, who hurled in the ball to first base to complete the double play as Josh Caudill could not return to first in time.
"Defense helped me quite a bit," Ehling said. "I've always believed in them no matter what, so I have no worries about them."
The score remained 2-0 until the top of the fourth inning when Ryle's AJ Curry ripped a solo shot over the right field wall to cut into McCracken County's two-run lead. Despite this, the Mustangs answered in the bottom of the fifth with a one-out RBI single by Dunning to score Moffatt and Green, giving McCracken County a 4-1 lead.
The Mustangs held on to the three-run lead going into the top of the seventh inning with Ryle down to their last three outs. Ehling collected the first out, fanning Anthony Coppola on six pitches. Dylan McIntyre gave the Raiders a bit of life with a single but would be left stranded as Ehling struck out the next batter and induced a ground out to third base, with Green flashing the leather to end the ballgame.
Caleb Mann took the loss for Ryle. The senior worked over four innings, allowing six hits, four runs (three earned), three walks, and four strikeouts. Lucas Sanders appeared in relief, tossing over an inning and allowing one hit. Sanders walked one and struck out one.
UP NEXT: The McCracken County Mustangs will face Owensboro Catholic on Friday at Kentucky Proud Park at 1:30 p.m. EDT. The winner will advance to the 2024 Clark's Pump N Shop Baseball State Championship against the winner between Pleasure Ridge Park and Trinity.
MCCRACKEN COUNTY 4, RYLE 1
RHS 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 1-3-1
MCHS 2 0 0 0 2 0 X — 4-7-0
WP: C. Ehling; LP: C. Mann
3B: MCHS — M. Green
HR: RYLE — A. Curry
TB: RYLE — A. Curry 4, D. McIntyre 1, J. Caudill 1; MCHS — M. Green 3, C. Hawes 2, K. Dunning 2, C. Kern 1, S. Moffatt 1
SB: MCHS — E. James, G. Cantrell, K. Dunning
E: RYLE —D. Carroll
RECORDS: McCracken County (33-9); Ryle (32-10)