Only two batters into the game, Harlan County sophomore outfielder Brayden Morris singled to take away Baylor Varner’s chance at repeating his no-hit performance from earlier in the season agains the Black Bears.
Varner made sure that was the only highlight of the night for the Bears as he dominated from there, striking out 18 and walking only one as the Dragons completed a three-game sweep of Harlan County with a 7-0 win Monday in the first round of the 52nd District Tournament at Harlan. The 16-13 Dragons will go for a third straight district title on Tuesday at 6 against Bell County,
“I think that’s the fourth or fifth time this year he was one or two batters away from a perfect game,” Harlan coach Lee Freyer said. “He’s a dawg. He wants the ball all the time.”
“He’s a good pitcher. He gets in a rhythm, and he throws strikes. It’s hard to do anything with him,” Harlan County coach Scotty Bailey said, “We have to get better at putting the ball in play. When he’s on he’s tough to hit.”
The Dragons gave Varner more runs than he would need with three in each of the first two innings, capitalizing on a couple of early HCHS errors to take control.
“We had our best batting practice session of the season Sunday,” Freyer said. “They had an approach, and we worked on moving people over. We have to be aggressive. If it’s there and it’s what you want, you have to go get it.”
“That’s been a thing with us. It seems like we have a bad inning,” Bailey said. “Moving our defense around has put us in bad spots at times. We have to battle in the offseason and get better at it for the future. We just didn’t attack on offense like I had hoped and we practiced for.”
Jesse Gilbert gave up six runs (three earned) on five hits with two strikeouts and one walk in 1 1/3 innings to suffer the loss. Zayden Casolari allowed only one unearned run on three hits with three strikeouts and no walks over 4 2/3 innings.
While the Dragons were a big favorite over a Harlan County team they’ve dominated the past two years, Freyer said he didn’t consider saving Varner for a likely championship game showdown against Bell County.
“No, it’s not a thought. I have faith in all of our staff to come out and do what we need to do,” he said. “To me if you have a No. 1 and he’s used to throwing on Monday, that’s what today was. You can’t win a championship if you don’t get to the championship.”
Jaxson Perry led the Harlan offense with a triple, two singles and two runs scored from the second spot in the lineup. Varner, the leadoff hitter, added two singles and two runs scored. Eli Freyer, Caiden Jackson and Cooper Thomas contributed one single each.
Harlan County ended the season with a record of 12-17, missing the regional tournament for the third straight season.
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Harlan County 000 000 0 — 0. 1. 4
Harlan 330 100 x — 7. 8. 1
Gilbert, Casolari (2) and Smith; Varner and Owens. WP — Owens (5-5). LP — Gilbert (2-3).
