Corbin baseball defeats Whitley County in 13th Region tournament finals

As many expected it would, this year’s 13th Region baseball tournament once again came down to 50th District rivals Corbin and Whitley County. Last year, it was the Colonels who defeated the Redhounds in the regional finals before going on to win a program-first KHSAA state championship. This time around, Corbin was able to return the favor by punching their tickets to the 2024 state championship tournament in Lexington.

The Colonels got out to an early lead in Friday’s regional championship contest, played at Knox Central High School in Barbourville. After going up 2-0 in the top of the first inning, Redhound Noah Cima hit a solo home run in the bottom of the inning followed shortly by a two-RBI triple from teammate Cam Estep. This gave Corbin the 3-2 advantage, which they would add to in the second inning, scoring another run to extend their lead out to 4-2.

At this point, Whitley County made its first of two pitching changes, taking starter Bradyn Bargo off the mound and replacing him with freshman Christian Wilson.

The Redhounds continued to connect at the plate in the third inning, putting two more runs on the board to take a commanding 6-2 lead.

The Colonels tried another pitching change in the fourth inning, bringing on another freshman, Trey Walton, who would finish out the game for the defending champions.

After scoreless fourth and fifth innings, Corbin loaded the bases in the sixth, but were not able to push any additional runs across. Whitley County rallied in the top of the seventh inning, scoring one run and bringing what would have been the tying run up to home plate. The Hounds managed to hold off the threat, though, securing the 6-3 regional championship victory and recording their thirtieth win of the season ahead of an appearance in next week’s KHSAA State Championship Tournament.

“Nobody wants to go home yet,” said senior Jeremiah Gilbert, who pitched a complete game for Corbin in Friday’s regional final. “The job isn’t finished. We’re going to go to state, perform there, and hopefully get another championship.

The Redhounds’ senior first baseman, Walker Landrum, said, “It has been a battle with Whitley for the past four years. No matter what, it was going to be either us or them, and it’s always going to be a dogfight. All respect to Coach [Jeremy] Shope and his team. They have a heck of a team, but we were just the better team today.”

Senior Bradric Helton added to that, saying, “This means a lot. We definitely didn’t want to come up short this year, especially with the team that we have. We have way too much talent to go home early, and I think that we have enough talent to go and win one more.”

“The journey has been fun,” Helton said. “There have been some ups and downs, but we have come into this postseason playing like we should. I think that we are close to playing our best. We have yet to play up to our full potential, but we are getting really close.”

The Hounds will need to be at their best next week when they open up state tournament play against Region 3 champions Owensboro Catholic, who are 29-7 on the year and boast a 2024 All “A” Classic state championship title.

“We will need to keep our heads,” said Mikey Neal, Corbin’s senior catcher, when asked about the upcoming game against the Aces. “We will be playing on a much bigger stage, but we’re still just playing a baseball game. We will just have to take it one pitch, one play, one at-bat at a time, and make sure that we don’t beat ourselves. As long as we don’t do that, then I think we’ll be okay.”

Before the work of preparing for Owensboro Catholic gets underway in earnest, the Redhounds are going to take a little time to enjoy their newly won 13th Region championship. Head Coach Cody Philpot knows how much it means to be able to top a quality opponent like Whitley County in order to win the crown, saying, “They are a heck of a team. It has been us or them for the past 5-6 years. Jeremy has done a great job with elevating that program. I think that we push each other to get better, because we know that we’re going to end up in these battles at the end of the year”

“I am just really proud of my kids, and how they have worked to get back to this point,” Philpot added.

“Hat’s off to Gilbert,” Coach Shope said after Friday’s game. “He threw a gem tonight. Hat’s off to Corbin. We wish them the best of luck the rest of the way.”

When asked to comment on what the 2024 season was like for his team as the defending state champions, Shope said, “This is one of my favorite special senior classes. We have six guys who have poured their heart and souls into this program. To come off of a state championship and have that target on your back day-in and day-out makes for a grueling season. How these young men have handled that and led this team has been phenomenal. I am proud of the men that they have become. This will be a tough group to lose, for sure.”

With Friday’s loss, the Colonels conclude their season with a 28-11 record.

Corbin’s game against Owensboro Catholic in the first round of the 2024 KHSAA State Championship Tournament is scheduled for next Friday evening, June 7, at 5 p.m. at Legends Field in Lexington. For more details, visit www.khsaa.org or look inside the June 5 print edition of the News Journal.

2024 13th Region All-Tournament Team Members 

From Whitley County: EJ Allen, Hunter Wilson and Matthew Wright

From Corbin: Kade Elam, Bradric Helton, Jeremiah Gilbert and Noah Cima

2024 common opponents between Corbin and Owensboro Catholic

Muhlenberg County: Aces LOST on March 19, 4-0; Redhounds WON on April 2, 10-4

Pikeville: Aces WON on April 28, 3-1; Redhounds LOST on April 25, 5-3