2025 High School Team Previews: #9 Lexington Catholic

March 10, 2025
Carter Floyd | Jamie Tessoff
KY Social Media Director | KY Scouting Director

We are less than ONE WEEK from opening day for the 2025 KHSAA season! The Prep Baseball KY staff has been hard at work ranking the top 25 teams in the Bluegrass State. We are now individually previewing our top ranked teams as part of our Power 25 countdown. Our next preview belongs to #9 ranked Lexington Catholic High School!

LEXINGTON CATHOLIC: KNIGHTS

2024 Recap:

Record: 27-12 (home: 12-6, away: 11-5, neutral: 4-1)

4th overall in Region 11
1st overall in District 43

Postseason finish: State quarterfinalists

Offensive stats: 284 H, 242 R, 75 XBH, 101 SB, .273 AVG

Pitching stats: 272.1 IP, 260 H, 107 ER, 245 K, 2.75 ERA

Head Coach Remarks:

"I am excited to see how this team comes together and competes. We have a great group of young talent that are ready to step up and compete." - HC Scott Downs

State Director's Input:

"Perhaps no program lost more than the Knights to graduation and transfers, but there is still plenty of talent for Head Coach Scott Downs to work with this Spring. Led by Prep Baseball All American Owen Jenkins (Kentucky), who hit .474 with 5 home runs while being pitched around at a ridiculous clip. Jenkins will have MLB scouts flocking to Lexington on a regular basis and looks to be a day one draft pick in July. Help in the order should come from senior Cody Decker (Bellarmine) who hit .306 last Spring and will have to be even better this year for the Knights. Junior speedster Bennie Lawrence returns and if the talented center fielder can find his way on base at a higher clip, he will be a nightmare for opposing defenses. Junior Braden Tudor will be expected to contribute as a two-way, and, with the velocity jump this Spring, one can expect him in big situations. Junior Jack White is an imposing presence physically and will need to step up on both sides of the ball as well. The entire pitching staff will be completely overhauled, but there is some serious arm talent here with transfer Noah Cook joining the fray with a mid to upper 80s heater that fills the zone. Sophomore Eamon Hughes expects to see big innings along with junior Will Mischel, who will work comfortably in the mid to upper 80s as well. The X factor for Catholic will be senior Jack Sams (Kentucky), who missed his junior campaign with a minor injury. This is a frontline arm and, if reports are accurate, he is ready to go and will be one of the top arms in Kentucky. A lot of question marks will need to be answered early, and if they are, Scott Downs and his Knights could find themselves right back in the State Tournament IF they can survive the dangerous 11th Region." - Jamie Tessoff

Top Newcomers:

Top Returning Players:

2025 Cody Decker - RHP/3B (Bellarmine University)
- .306 AVG, 33 H, 18 R, 18 RBI, 7 XBH, 16 BB, 13 SB
2025 Owen Jenkins - C (University of Kentucky)
- .474 AVG, 46 H, 33 R, 29 RBI, 15 XBH, 5 HR, 16 BB, 13 SB
2025 Jack Sams - RHP (University of Kentucky)
2025 Jack Reeves - RHP
- 13.2 ERA, 7 ER, 7 K, 3.59 ERA
2025 Chris Vittitow - OF
2026 Bennie Lawrence - OF
- .273 AVG, 27 H, 31 R, 19 RBI, 17 BB, 21 SB
2026 Brady Wasik - C
- .237 AVG, 23 H, 10 R, 23 RBI, 9 XBH, 20 BB
2026 Jack White - OF/RHP
- .279 AVG, 17 H, 17 R, 7 RBI, 10 BB, 19 SB
2026 Brayden Tudor - RHP
2027 Eamon Hughes - LHP