St. Xavier 17 Pleasure Ridge Park 5

Final score from last night’s game at PRP’s Coach Bill Miller Memorial Field, between the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the state.

St. X * 0-0-4-1-0-4-8 * 17 / 15 / 2

PRP * 0-0-4-1-0-0-0 * 5 / 8 / 1

St. X remains undefeated at 19-0. PRP (17-3) loses its first game to a Kentucky team.

WP Evan Burnett, (5-0)

LP - Garrett Schmeltz (6-1)

St. X:

Aric Lyons: ¾, 1 HR, 1 2B, 5 rbi, 2 runs

Cam Scheler: 3/4, 1 2B, 5 rbi, 4 runs

Trey Sweeny: 2/3, 2 2B, 2 rbi, 2 runs

PRP:

Matt Cavanaugh: 2/3, 1 rbi

Nick Palummo: 2/2, 1 run

Link to Nate Bryan's Courier Journal article -

Top ranked teams: St. Xavier Tigers beat Pleasure Ridge Park Panthers

Did any of our BGP members see this game at PRP and can share some thoughts?

I am thinking X is the team to beat this year but I also understand it is Baseball and it doesn't always work like that.

@Xtiger69, did you make it to this game?

Putting 5 up on a stud pitcher is impressive.

How many D1 commits are on these two teams? I'm pretty sure that at least 2 pitchers have scholarships to UL.

PRP - Schmeltz LHP Louisville, Glass RHP WKU

St. X - Nicholson 1B Cincinnati, Scheler C Cincinnati, SS Sweeney Eastern Illinois.

X has no arms committed to D1 schools though Nicholson does pitch but UC recruited him as a position player.

It was a beautiful night and the honor to Coach Miller was emotional to many on both sides of the bleachers. They played his voice message accepting his enshrinement into the KHSAA hall of fame. It was eerie to see the reaction on the faces of the many PRP fans.

As to the game, I was really impressed by the PRP pitcher, Garrett Schmeltz, his velocity and location was amazing but the Tigers have tremendous bats at the top of their lineup. Most baseball fans have heard of Scheler and Sweeney but Aric Lyons is just crushing the ball. Garrett Schmeltz probably has not given up 5 runs in a game in his life but the Tigers were hitting the fastball. Both teams didn't field well to their standards and some runs were unearned. PRP fell off big time from starter to relievers and the last 2 innings took about an hour as St Xavier just hit roped hit after roped hit. One of Cam Schelers hits just ate up the SS for PRP as it short hopped to the glove side of him and got past him before he could get his glove on it. Trey Sweeney looked solid in relief besides Evan Burnett. A couple of things I witnessed- St Xavier has good pitching and a lot of it but with baseball, overpowering pitching can stop a good offense. 2nd- they only have 14 dressed on varsity. Thin numbers but all are good. Go Tigers!

I am thinking X is the team to beat this year but I also understand it is Baseball and it doesn't always work like that.

Absolutely true, especially in a "one and out" tournament format.

Putting 5 up on a stud pitcher is impressive.

Five of his seven earned runs allowed this year. Schmeltz's stat line for the season: 1.36 ERA; .146 OBA and .260 OBP; 76 K in 36 IP. UL is getting a stud.

Please see X Coach Andy Porta's comments in the C-J article posted above -

But hold on: Tigers coach Andy Porta said do not read too much into that.

"You can throw that out," Porta said. "We knew they were thin on pitching. We knew (Dallas) Glass had thrown, (Nick) Rucker had thrown and we knew that (Garrett) Schmeltz had thrown over a hundred pitches on Friday, so we had a pretty good idea that if we could get him out of the game, they were probably out of pitching. So that's an anomaly. They're a much better team than that."

Thank you for the recap @jimmyref. :up:

I did not we have guests in town from Indy

I've seen X play three times now. They're pretty solid across the board.

They can hit 1-9, defense is solid and pitchers get the job done.

Saw PRP at State last year and twice this year. Not having Rucker and Glass available to pitch hurt a lot and as good as X is, I don't think there's any way the Tigers put 17 on Schmeltz-Glass-Rucker.

The bottom of the fifth killed PRP. Bases loaded and no outs and couldn't score (and break the tie at 5). X had the momentum and Schmeltz out of the game and rolled from there.

If the coaches drop PRP in the polls far for this would be a huge mistake. Tied in the sixth with a NATIONALLY ranked team and drop a few spots would be harsh when they could blow out a nobody and stay where they were.

This Saint Xavier team might be one of the best ever in the state of Kentucky. They are so strong on both sides of the ball.