Five dominant innings on the mound from Luke Lutterell and an opportunistic Harlan offense pushed the Harlan Green Dragons within one victory of a 13th Region All “A” Classic regional title with a 4-0 win Wednesday over visiting Barbourville.
Luttrell, a freshman left-hander, entered the game with a runner on in the third inning to replace starter Jared Moore and overpowered the Tigers with 11 strikeouts while not giving up a hit. Luttrell gave up a run in the sixth inning by walking two and hitting two but worked out of the jam with two strikeouts.
Eli Freyer, Chris Rouse, Moore and Luttrell each had one hit against Barbourville starter Luke Hillard, who struck out nine and walked none in a complete-game effort. Only one of the four Harlan runs were earned as Hillard had to work around five errors.
“It was a great team win tonight. I’m super proud of the grit this team has shown early this season. We came out really flat tonight, but still found a way to grind out another win. Jared started out on the mound and gave us some good innings. He wasn’t feeling well tonight, so we had to go to Luke sooner than we wanted too. Luke came in and pitched a stellar game in long relief. I’m proud of Luke. He wasn’t expected to throw tonight but came in and gave us all he had. He really kept Barbourville off balance,” Harlan coach Lee Freyer said. “Offensively it seems like every game a different kid steps up. Tonight, Chris Rouse was our sparkplug. He put the ball in play consistently and really ran the bases well tonight. He had a couple steals. His speed put Barbourville in some uncomfortable positions that lead to some errant throws. We’ve really not hit the baseball well this year so far. But to be where we are at 6-1, any coach would take that. The difference this year has been execution. We talk about that every game. If we execute and play our game, we are a tough team to beat.
Moore doubled to lead off the second inning. Courtesy runner Jonah Sharp eventually scored with two outs on a wild pitch.
Rouse singled to lead off the fourth inning and Owens reached on a fielder’s choice. Rouse scored on an errant pickoff attempt. Owens came on Luttrell’s two-out hit.
Donovan Montanaro reached on an error to open the fifth inning, moved to third on Freyer’s bunt and scored on Rouse’s grounder that turned into another error.
“Early in the season, I always feel like pitching is ahead of hitting. So far, we have rode our pitchers to 6-1. I’d like to see us give them a little more run support. Hopefully, the bats wake up for us,” Freyer said.
Moore pitched two-plus shutout innings, giving up one hit and two walks.
Hillard had the only hit for the Tigers with a single in the first inning.
Harlan (6-1) will travel to Jackson County on Thursday in the regional All ‘A” finals.
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Barbourvile 000 001 0 — 1. 1. 5
Harlan 010 210 x — 4. 4. 1
Hillard and West; Moore, Luttrell (3) and Owens. WP — Luttrell (2-0). LP — Hillard.