“If you believe, then a lot of good things are gonna happen.”
This is how Whitley County Baseball Head Coach Jeremy Shope described his team’s mentality ahead of the school’s third state tournament appearance.
The Colonel’s will take on Apollo in the first round at 1:30 p.m. on Friday at Legends Field in Lexington.
The impact of experience
For most of the team’s roster, Friday’s game will be their first time participating in a Kentucky High School Athletic Association baseball state tournament.
There are four players, however, who have been to the tournament before and know what it takes to win.
Seniors Dee Parker and Kaden Powers were freshman the last time Whitley County made the trip to Lexington in the post season.
“There’s a lot of teams don’t have experience at the state level, so having that experience just gives you another little edge on everybody else,” said Powers. “That’s definitely an advantage that we have that some teams might not.”
For the teammates who haven’t yet experienced state tournament play, Parker said, “The players that played will just show them what it’s like.”
Two current juniors, Spencer Bargo and Trey Walton, were also on the team as eighth graders in 2023.
Experience on the field and in the dugout
While four players on the field are headed into the tournament with experience on their side, there are at least two members of Shope’s coaching staff who know what it is like to be both a player and now a coach at a state tournament.
“As a player, I just, I got to go out there and play the sport that I love, but from a coaching standpoint, you got to look for the smaller details and do the scouting reports on everybody else and kind of look and see what, in critique, like, what our guys need to fix before we go into that game,” said Mason Croley, a Whitley County baseball assistant coach.
Croley was a senior during Whitley County’s 2023 state championship run.
That season, Croley was in a similar position to Parker, Powers, Bargo and Walton.
“About everybody knows my sophomore year would have been the [20]21 season. We won the region and made a run into the state.
[We] played Raceland in the first round and was able to get past them and had a good Lyon County team that we played against that we had faced earlier in the season that we ended up falling against,” Croley explained. “With the 2023 team, we kind of knew what it takes to have to be able to accomplish that goal.”
Assistant Coach Curry Brown played in the state tournament under Shope in 2011, 2012 and 2013 at Mercer County.
In 2013, Shope and the Mercer County Titans ended their season as state runners-up.
1:30 p.m. on Friday
In the first round, Whitley County will take on Region 3 Champion Apollo. The first pitch between Whitley County and Apollo is set for 1:30 p.m. on Friday at Legends Field in Lexington.
“Just like you were talking about with us having a trip in 2023, Apollo was there too. They were a final 4 team,” Croley explained. “Every year, Apollo’s got a team that they’ve got guys that can barrel the baseball up. They’ve got guys that can throw it.”
While acknowledging that Apollo has its own strengths, Croley said Whitley County’s plan is “we go out and play our game.”
That philosophy is something Shope has worked to instill in his players.
“I’ve always been one that just focuses on us, you know? I think sometimes you can get so caught up in your opponent that you forget about you,” Shope explained. “I’m worried about us, making sure that we stay focused, making sure that we go play our brand of baseball, which is, um, pitching, defense, creating havoc on the bases, and getting some timely hits, so that’s what we’re gonna focus on.”
Final goal
As the Colonels near the end of post-season, they have accomplished each goal they set.
“Our goal was to win the regular season district title, and we did,” said Shope. “We got that one seed, and we knew that was gonna be a birth to the region tournament. Then to go win the district championship, like, that was our second goal. Then to go win the region championship. That was our third goal. So, we’re sitting here, have accomplished every goal with one more staring right at us.”
The fourth goal, as Shope admits, ‘is a big one.’
With 16 teams left in the state, he said everyone is working towards the same goal.
“You know, you just hope that your kids just go out and play loose, relaxed, have fun. In single elimination baseball, it’s difficult. It could be a couple [of] mistakes and your season could be over,” said Shope. “I told our guys, it’s all gravy from here. It is our goal every year to go compete and try to win a state championship, but at the end of the day, I’m proud of these guys.”
