By Chris Fuller
Kentucky Scouting Director

In what couldn’t have been a more perfect day for baseball from a weather standpoint, the KHSAA State Tournament got started yesterday with an 11:00 AM contest between Mercer County and Apollo.

Mercer County starting pitcher JT Long, and Apollo starter Tanner Edge each cruised through the first two innings. 

Long’s fastball touched 80 mph early, and he showed the ability to locate not only his fastball, but throw his secondary pitches for strikes consistently.

Edge, a Murray State recruit, showed an 84-86 mph fastball and a sharp breaking ball to record two strikeouts through the first two innings.

Mercer County got things going in the top half of the third when senior first baseman Trevor Tate led off the inning with a base hit.  Right fielder Chris Goodman then laid down a bunt to the first base side and beat it out for a hit, and the Titans were in business.  Senior left fielder Dylan Logue laid down another bunt that Edge had trouble fielding, loading the bases for Titans lead-off hitter Jon Ingram.  Ingram’s sacrifice fly to right field scored Tate for a 1-0 lead.  Sophomore Layne Peavler followed with the third bunt of the inning to score Goodman, and was safe when Apollo failed to cover first base, and  Jon Banks followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Titans a 3-run cushion.

“It’s all about execution,” said Mercer County head coach Jeremy Shope.  “We talked to the guys before the tournament about the importance of getting bunts down when you get the sign.  We did of a good job of executing that today.”

Goodman blasted a long home run to left field in the fifth, a solo shot to give Mercer County a 4-0 lead.

“It was a 2-0 fastball, and I was sitting dead red,” Goodman said of the blast.  I got the fastball I was looking for in the middle of the plate and put a good swing on it.”

That would be all the offense Long would need.  The junior right-hander continued to keep Apollo hitters off-balance by mixing up his pitches, changing speeds, and hitting spots effectively. 

The only real Apollo scoring threat came in the sixth inning, when after the first two batters were retired, senior third baseman Zach Ranburger was hit by a pitch, and freshman Jakob Shuler followed with his second hit of the day, but Long induced a ground ball to end the threat.

“I felt really good today,” Long said of his complete game shutout, eight strikeout performance.  “Coming in to the game, I knew they had some big hitters in the middle of their order, and I wanted to be able to change speeds and keep them off balance, and then work inside with my fastball when they weren’t expecting it.”

Mercer County advances to face Prestonsburg in the quarterfinals June 5 at 6:00 PM.