No. 3 St. Xavier (33-10) defeated No. 1 McCracken County (35-7) 5-4 on a cool, slightly rainy, summer Friday night at Kentucky Proud Park in the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop KHSAA baseball semifinals.
The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead thanks to a Cooper Smith triple and no-doubt home runs by Jake Bennett and Landon Akers off Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year Jack Bennett. Bennett leads the state with 14 home runs. Smith, who was a cornerback on the Tiger 6A champion football team, finished with three extra-base hits to key the offense.
The Mustangs loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the first, but U of L commit Ty Starke struck out Eli James to get out of the jam unscathed.