St. Henry baseball claims first Region 9 title in 11-4 win over Beechwood
ERLANGER, Ky. (BVM) — During the 9th Region All “A” Classic title game on Monday, it was a battle of perennial champions against rowdy newcomers when the Beechwood Tigers took on the St. Henry Crusaders. Beechwood, winners of five of the last six regional titles, would be facing a St. Henry team that had yet to win a regional championship in its history and hadn’t beaten the Tigers in four previous matchups. But things were certainly not the status quo on this day.
The Crusaders would use a strong second inning in which the team scored six runs on five hits to take a commanding 7-1 advantage in the contest. In the fifth inning, the Crusaders would extend their lead with a three-run inning off of a two-RBI double and an RBI single.
Owen Ellerman locked it down on the mound for the Crusaders during the contest. In five innings, Ellerman struck out six while allowing only three runs on six hits. His replacement, Ryan Butler, would only give up one additional run in his two innings on the mound to give the Crusaders the decisive 11-4 victory.
With the win, the Crusaders won the program’s first ever Region 9 title. By virtue of their victory, the team will take on the Region 10 champion in the sectional round later in the month. The Region 10 tournament is currently underway with the semifinal games between Bishop Brossart against Bracken County and Nicholas County against Augusta scheduled for Saturday. Winners of those semifinals games will then face each other later that day for the Region 10 championship and the opportunity to play St. Henry.
There are eight All “A” sectional games and the winners of those contests will advance to the All “A” Classic state tournament April 24-25 in Owensboro, Ky. Though the Crusaders have already made history, they have now time to rest on their laurels as there is an opportunity for even more history to be made.
