Jim Mashek

SPARTANS’ GRIFFIN RARDIN SERVES 1-GAME SUSPENSION, THEN NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

LEXINGTON — South Warren High School’s baseball team knew what it was up against, heading into the quarterfinals of the KHSAA State Tournament on Sunday afternoon at UK’s Kentucky Proud Park.

The Spartans would have to play tradition-rich McCracken County, for a chance to play in the second weekend of the tournament, without the KHSAA 4th Region Player of the Year, senior shortstop/pitcher Griffin Rardin.

Rardin was involved in a home-plate collision Friday evening, in the Spartans’ 6-5 victory over the Highlands Bluebirds in first-round play. He was ejected for what was called “malicious contact,” which carries a two-game suspension after the fact.

South Warren appealed the ruling, and the penalty was reduced from two games to one. But Rardin’s absence seemed to hang over everything on Sunday.

Not surprisingly, McCracken County built a five-run lead in the first four innings while cruising to a 9-4 victory over the Spartans before a crowd of 1,089 at Kentucky Proud Park.

“I can’t be any more proud of these guys,” South Warren coach Chris Gage said when it was over.

McCracken County improved to 31-8 overall, and the Mustangs will face defending state champion Pleasure Ridge Park (28-6) in semifinal play on Friday. South Warren, making its second state tournament appearance in three years, finished its season at 31-9.

McCracken left-hander Caden Kern, who scattered seven hits over the game’s first six innings, was the winning pitcher. Jacob Lobb, South’s junior right-hander, took the loss.

“We came out swinging today,” Kern told the Paducah Sun, “which we knew we had to do, and put up some runs … We got some timely hits and pulled through.”

The Mustangs scored eight of their nine runs with two outs.

It was a season of unusual challenges for South Warren, which used an amazing comeback to topple Warren East, 8-7, in the KHSAA 4th Region championship game on May 28 at WKU’s Nick Denes Field.

Ethan Reynolds, a WKU signee and multi-purpose player, missed the bulk of the season after undergoing hand surgery. Freshman outfielder Junior Perkins missed significant time with an injury and was sidelined for the state tournament after undergoing an emergency appendectomy. Left-handed pitcher Mikey Coradini had tendinitis in his throwing shoulder over the last month.

And Gage and his family have had to persevere through an automobile accident that seriously injured his daughter, University of Louisville student Chloe Gage, last summer.

And Sunday, after learning their appeal on Griffin Rardin’s suspension didn’t bring the desired result, the Spartans seemed to have that weight on their shoulders. The South Warren players wore “Free Griff” T-shirts, and Rardin himself was wearing one when he accepted his All-Tournament Team plaque.

“There were a lot of moving pieces,” South coach Chris Gage said. “I’m not smart enough to understand why (the KHSAA) cut it to just one game (on the home-plate collision) … (Rardin) didn’t lower his shoulder.”

Rardin, the son of WKU head baseball coach Marc Rardin, will be playing next season at Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He finished the season with a .500 batting average — that’s right, one hit for every two at bats — while collecting 29 extra-base hits and 48 RBI, all of those team highs.

“There’s no one on this team that I don’t believe in,” Rardin said. “I used to play football, back in my day (as a grade schooler). You could have seen if I was trying to hurt (the Highlands catcher, Kai Johnson).”

The early innings served as a harbinger for what was to come.

South was the visiting team, and Jax Decker’s two-out double to left-center field left two runners in scoring position in the top of the first. But McCracken’s Caden Kern retired South Warren third baseman Matt Mosley on a pop fly that was caught in foul territory to end that threat.

The Spartans’ Joseph Fentress and Gray Pearson had back-to-back singles in the second, but Kern retired the next two batters he faced, and the game remained scoreless.

But not for long.

McCracken outfielder Brady Thompson delivered a two-out, two-run double to right-center field in the bottom of the second, putting the Mustangs in front, 2-0. In the third, McCracken loaded the bases with two outs, and South’s Ethan Reynolds lost a fly ball off the bat of Gage Dugan in the sun, with the ball hitting his arm for an error that brought two runs across the plate.

“I had it all the way, and at the last minute, it went into the sun,” Reynolds said. “In the early parts of the game, we really let the adversity get to us.”

It was 8-0 before the Spartans got on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth.

“We had four hits in the first two innings and couldn’t get anything across,” South Warren coach Chris Gage said. “But these guys don’t quit … I don’t want anything to dampen what’s been a great season … To get to 31 wins, with what this team has gone through, it’s very special.”

Jacob Lobb, South’s starting pitcher, gave way to sophomore left-hander Dylan Marr in the fifth inning. Ethan Reynolds, who pitched against Highlands, too, took over in the sixth.

Reynolds said Griffin Rardin’s leadership helped carry the Spartans through the tough times, and the South players embraced one another before leaving the stadium.

“Griff really stepped up. He put the team on his back,” Reynolds said. “We fought through everything we could.”