Photos by: Phil Stauder
Story by: Russell Vannozzi
Bevis, Kocian pitch Ravenwood to bounce-back win in region semis
NASHVILLE – Ravenwood baseball players had plenty of time to think about their last two games – both losses in the District 11-AAA tournament.
After almost 10 days off, the Raptors returned to the field Monday night for the Region 6-AAA semifinals and beat Overton 2-0 behind stellar pitching from Blake Bevis and Lucas Kocian.
Kocian tossed 4 and 2/3 shutout innings before giving way to Bevis, who finished the final 2 1/3 innings with six strikeouts.
Kocian as the starter and Bevis as the closer has been a productive 1-2 punch for Ravenwood. The juniors were named District 11-AAA Pitcher of the Year and Player of the Year, respectively.
"That's been the formula," Ravenwood coach Danny Borne said. "Lucas started it, gave us good mileage and it's good to have Blake coming in at the end with power stuff to finish the game."
The top-seeded Raptors (23-8) were bounced from their own district tournament with back-to-back losses to Page and Spring Hill on May 7 and 8. That led to several long days of field prep and tarp pulls while watching other District 11-AAA teams play meaningful games on their field.
"That definitely wasn't the best," Kocian admitted.
It may not have been the worst outcome, though.
Since Ravenwood had already clinched a region berth by capturing the regular-season district title, the layoff allowed the team to take a breather after cramming 30 games into seven weeks.
"I think it was big for all of us just to hit the reset button," Bevis said. "We came out (Monday) as a new team with a new season, basically. We just have to keep winning."
Timely hitting helped Ravenwood do just that against Overton, which has now been eliminated by a Williamson County team in the region semifinals each of the past eight seasons.
Stephen Bell plated Ryan Augustini with a two-out, RBI single in the fourth inning, and Andrew Dudas tacked on a second run with a sacrifice fly that scored Augustini in the sixth.
Overton (26-9) senior Tuane Cope allowed two runs over 5 2/3 innings of work on the mound, but the Bobcats only managed three hits off Kocian and Bevis.
The Ravenwood pitching duo combined for five groundouts, six flyouts and nine strikeouts.
"When you have a defense like we do, your main goal is just to get (batters) to hit weak contact," Kocian said. "We know the defense is going to make the play for us."
Ravenwood will travel to Independence (23-11) for the Region 6-AAA title game on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The two teams split a pair of games during the regular season.
Independence has won eight of its last nine outings, including the district title with an 18-4 win over Dickson County on May 12 at Ravenwood.
"They're playing really good baseball," Borne said. "They have really good starting pitching. It's one of those anomalies where they have three lefty starters… I assume we'll see one of them. It's going to be a tough challenge."
Raptors fall as Indy continues postseason surge with region championship
THOMPSON'S STATION – Wednesday's game carried a bit more motivation for the Independence High School baseball team. In addition to remaining at home with a win Wednesday, the Eagles could partake in a memorable double-header of sorts Friday.
Now, they'll get the opportunity.
Independence will host Clarksville in a Class AAA Sectional contest Friday afternoon and the seniors will walk during graduation ceremonies later that night at the Thompson's Station school. All this was made possible after the Eagles won a sixth consecutive postseason game by topping Ravenwood 10-2 for the Region 6-AAA championship.
"Hopefully we can celebrate twice," Indy coach Mike McLaury said. "We want to hopefully have something for these guys to celebrate on the field and then they could go celebrate on the football field for graduation."
That first celebration could come after clinching a state tournament berth and Wednesday's game was another step toward that goal.
Dalton Dickerson kept Ravenwood off balance pitching six innings, scattering seven hits with six strikeouts and no walks. The righty, who tossed his breaking ball for strikes and mixed in his changeup and fastball, surrendered two earned runs.
Drew Blalock led the offense for the Eagles, going 3-for-3 and drawing a walk with three runs scored and an RBI. His single opened the bottom of the second and he later scored on a two-RBI single from Ty Allen, who drove in three runs. The Eagles gained more separation in the third by plating five runs.
Jack Baughman and Aiden Justice were both walked to open the order, while Blalock followed with an RBI-double to begin the scoring barrage. Grant Morgan added a hard-hit single to score Justice and Creed McClellan drove in another run with a sacrifice bunt, while Cooper Hargrove made it 5-0 with a sacrifice fly. With two outs, Allen hit another RBI-single and Logan Molnar made it 7-0 with a double before the inning closed.
"I think we swung the bat as well as ever," McLaury said. "I wish I knew the secret, but I'll take it. We have been battling at the plate and we have pitched well all year.
"I think our defense has played great and our hitting has come along."
Ravenwood crossed home with a RBI-double from Ryan Augustini in the fourth, but Indy scored the next three runs to extend its lead. The Raptors tried seven different pitchers to try and slow the Eagles, who collected 11 hits.
"Independence played a great game," Raptors coach Danny Borne said. "We have to move forward and prepare for Friday's game. Our players will respond and we will show up."
Ravenwood posted a 2-0 win at Overton in the region semifinals to advance. The regular season District 11-AAA champs were the last team to beat Independence, taking an 11-3 victory on May 2 before the district tournament.
The Eagles, who topped McGavock 6-1 in their semifinal, earned one more game on their home field.
"We're looking forward to being at home and will likely have a neat environment for the game," McLaury said. "It should be a good crowd for these guys."
Beech picked up a walkoff win in the Region 5-AAA championship, edging Clarksville 9-8 Wednesday. Indy hosted the Wildcats on March 24, but five Clarksville runs in the top of the eighth inning led to an 8-3 win for the visitors.
Ravenwood will head to Beech in another sectional showdown Friday.
Full story on Williamson Herald
Independence 10, Ravenwood 2, Region 6-AAA Championship
RHS 000 100 1 – 2 8 0
IHS 025 102 X – 10 11 1
WP – Dalton Dickerson. LP – Alex Sterling.
RHS – Austin Johnson 1-3, Ben Severence 1-4, Miles Denton 2-4, Blake Bevis 0-3, Ryan Augustini 1-3, Thomas Cooper 0-3, Stephen Bell 1-3, Andrew Dudas 1-3, Nic Raum 2-3.
IHS – Logan Molnar 2-4, Jack Baughman 0-3, Aiden Justice 1-2, Drew Blalock 3-3, Grant Morgan 1-3, Creed McClellan 1-2, Cooper Hargrove 0-2, Ty Allen 2-3, Will Tobin 1-2, Cade Hollingsworth 0-1.
2B – Augustini, Blalock, Molnar. RBI – Johnson, Augustini, Allen 3, Blalock, Hargrove, McClellan 2, Molnar, Morgan 2. Team LOB – RHS 7, IHS 7.
