Harlan senior Jake Brewer capitalized on a rare opportunity Tuesday and the result was a third straight 52nd District Baseball Tournament championship for the Green Dragons.

After pitching just 19 innings during the regular season, Brewer came on in relief of fellow senior Brody Owens with one out in the second inning and stymied the Bell County Bobcats the rest of the way in a dramatic 5-4 victory.

The win matched the three straight 52nd District championships captured by the Green Dragons between 1956-58. Harlan also captured the title in 1959.

One of five Harlan seniors playing their final high school game on their home field, Brewer was masterful on the mound. His first pitch in the second inning induced an inning-ending double play and his final pitch helped solidify the memory about which he and his classmates had dreamed.

Harlan coach Lee Freyer replaced Brewer on the mound to start the seventh inning with junior Eli Freyer, but reinserted Brewer after walks put two runners on base with one out. A fielder’s choice by Mason Sziksai put the tying run 90 feet away at third base, and Brewer ran the count to 3-and-1 on Ayden Smith before inducing a fly ball to end the game.

“He’s a senior and he’s a leader and we went out there to ask how he was doing,” Lee Freyer said about Brewer. “He said he was doing good, and we decided to bring him back in the seventh because he wanted that moment as a senior.

“It was his last home game on this field. He’s always thrown strikes and been consistent, but tonight he had all of it working, and if you have all of it working, why not just go with it.”

Brewer yielded an earned run, two hits and two walks, while striking out one Bobcat in 5.2 innings of work.

Prior to Brewer’s appearance on the mound in the second inning, Bell County had already turned a Harlan error and five walks into three runs and appeared poised to defeat the Green Dragons for a third time this season.

Following the one pitch thrown by Brewer to end the second-inning uprising, the Green Dragons scored two runs in their half of the third inning. An RBI-double by Freyer made it 3-1. He later scored on a Bell County error.

Harlan tied the score in the fourth when Caiden Jackson scored following a miscue by the Bobcats, and then took the lead with two runs in the fifth thanks to the third Bell County error of the game and a perfectly executed squeeze bunt by Braxton Bowen that scored Owens.

Brewer walked two Bobcats with two outs in the sixth inning, before a single to center field by Cooper Brock made it 5-4 and set the stage for the dramatic finish.

A disappointed Bell County coach Jeff Sziksai was quick to praise Harlan and the performance by Brewer.

“Our kids were fighting til the end and put themselves in position, but we couldn’t come up with the hit there at the end,” Sziksai said. “Credit Harlan for making plays, and I think that’s what it came down to. They made the plays and we didn’t.

“(Brewer) did a nice job with fastball command, kept the ball low and did a nice job on the corners.”

Freyer expressed both pride and deep admiration for his team. 

“These guys, I’ve had them all for such a long time and I love them all so much and you just can’t be any more proud of them,” Freyer said. “We’re the smallest school in the district and we’ve done it three times in a row; (the players) have done it three times in a row and I just got to watch it.

“We have had a lot of the same kids and I can’t put any preference on it. The first one is probably always the sweetest, but as a coach you don’t really feel like you have a lot of time to react. You almost get a sense of relief, instead of celebration, because you’re hosting the tournament.”

Senior Baylor Varner singled on the game’s first pitch and was one of four Harlan players to record a hit. Freyer had two hits, while Jaxson Perry and Owens collected the other two safeties.

Cooper Brock recorded two of Bell County’s three hits, with Travis Mays recording the other.

Sophomore Brayden Carroll worked the first six innings on the mound for Bell County and was tagged with the loss. He yielded just one earned run, five hits, four walks and fanned six batters.

Both teams advance to next week’s 13th Region Tournament. Harlan enters the event with an overall record of 17-13, while Bell County enters sporting a 14-10 mark.

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52nd District Baseball Tournament

Championship

(At Harlan)

Harlan 0021200 – 5.5.2

Bell County 0300010 – 4.3.3

Owens, Brewer (2), Freyer (7), Brewer (7) and Rouse, Noe (3); Carroll, Smith (7) and Creech. WP – Brewer. LP – Carroll (3-4).

BASEBALL

52nd District Baseball Championship

2026 – Harlan 5, Bell County 4

2025 – Harlan 5, Bell County 4

2024 – Harlan 7, Bell County 5

2023 -Middlesboro 10, Harlan County 9

2022 – Middlesboro 6, Harlan County 1

2021 – Middlesboro 11, Harlan County 10

2019 Middlesboro 10, Bell County 0

2018 Middlesboro 9, Harlan County 4

2017 Middlesboro 5, Harlan County 4

2016 Middlesboro 3, Harlan County 2

2015 Harlan 5, Harlan County 4

2014 Harlan County 8, Middlesboro 6

2013 Harlan County 9, Middlesboro 4

2012 Middlesboro 3, Harlan County 2

2011 Harlan County 3, Middlesboro 1

2010 Middlesboro 3, Harlan County 2

2009 Bell County 14, Harlan County 7

2008 Bell County 3, Middlesboro 2

2007 Harlan 4, Middlesboro 1

2006 Middlesboro 2, Cumberland 1

2005 Cumberland 11, Harlan 1

2004 Cumberland 4, Harlan 1

2003 Cumberland 4, Harlan 0

2002 Cawood 11, Cumberland 5

2001 Harlan 7, Cawood 6

2000 Cawood 14, Harlan 7

1999 Cawood 12, Cumberland 5

1998 Cawood 7, Harlan 3

1997 Harlan 7, Cumberland 5

1996 Harlan 4, Evarts 3

1995 Cumberland 7, Harlan 6

1994 Harlan 8, Cawood 1

1993 Cumberland 5, Cawood 0

1992 Cumberland 2, Harlan 0

1991 Cumberland 13, Cawood 1

1990 Cumberland 22, Cawood 2

1989 Cumberland 10, Harlan 1

1988 Cumberland 8, Harlan 1

1987 Cumberland 5, Harlan 2

1986 Cumberland 11, Harlan 1

1985 Cumberland 13, Bell County 0

1984 Middlesboro 9, Evarts 4

1983 Cumberland 7, Evarts 2

1982 Cumberland 9, Cawood 3

1981 Cumberland 4, Harlan 3

1980 Cumberland 10, Cawood 8

1979 Cumberland 9, Cawood 1

1978 Evarts 13, Cumberland 9

1977 Lynch 10, Cumberland 2

1976 Evarts 13, Cumberland 12

1975 Evarts 5, Cumberland 4

1974 Evarts 11, Harlan 5

1973 Harlan 7, Evarts 2

1972 Evarts 14, Cawood 10

1971 Harlan 5, Evarts 4

1970 Cumberland 5, Harlan 3

1969 Cumberland 11, Cawood 1

1968 Evarts 7, Harlan 5

1967 Harlan 10, Cumberland 2

1966 Cumberland 3, Evarts 2

1965 Evarts 9, Harlan 8

1964 Lynch 5, Harlan 3

1963 Evarts 5, Lynch 4

1962 Lynch 5, Cumberland 2

1961 Lynch 4, Cumberland 2

1960 Benham 3, Harlan 2

1959 Harlan 2, Lynch 1

1958 Harlan 9, Evarts 3

1957 Harlan 3, Cumberland 0

1956 Harlan 10, Loyall 0