Eagles junior Noah Cook dazzled in another 9th District start on Wednesday, limiting Owensboro Catholic to three hits and winning 2-0 to beat the Aces for the first time since 2019.
Owensboro Catholic had a good chance to score in the top of the first, as a pair of two-out eros gave them runners on first and second. Junior Houston Flynn singled the following at-bat, but Apollo senior Josh Mayes threw senior Jamison Wall out at the plate to keep the Aces off the board.
But it wasn’t until the fourth inning that either team was able to break through, with the Eagles getting a pair of singles to the bottom half of the inning. A fielder’s choice and pop out seemed like it was going to end the scoring threat, but Mayes came through for Apollo again with an RBI double to take a 1-0 lead into the fifth.
The Eagles were able to chip in one more the following inning as well, as a one-out error led to a two-out one-run double from junior Easton Blandford to take a 2-0 lead. Owensboro Catholic tried to put a rally together in the sixth with a single from sophomore Brady Atwell and a walk, but nothing came of it and Cook went on to strike out the side in the bottom of the seventh to secure the 2-0 district win.
Noah had control of the game from the jump, limiting the Aces to three hits while walking one and striking out seven in his complete-game start. Meanwhile senior Thomas Eyre took the loss in his six-inning start for Owensboro Catholic, allowing one earned run on eight hits and one walk while striking out one.
The loss puts the Aces at 16-11 overall and 3-3 in district play, as they now look to bounce back from back-to-back district losses against Bowling Green at 5:30 on Thursday. Apollo on the other hand improves to 17-9 overall and 3-3 in district as well, now looking to take the momentum from the win into the Fayette County Invitational this weekend.
