Shelby County blanks McCracken County in its return to KHSAA baseball state tournament

LEXINGTON — After a 13-year absence, the Shelby County High School baseball team made a splash in its return to the state tournament.

The Rockets took control with two first-inning runs and Kemper Whisman and Hunter Cook combined for a three-hit shutout in a 3-0 victory over McCracken County on Thursday in the first round of the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop State Tournament at Counter Clocks Field.

If the No. 17-ranked Rockets (30-9) were overlooked entering the tournament, they won’t be going forward.

“It is kind of new for us … and it is a big deal for my kids,” Shelby County coach Steve Kingsolver said. “They’re enjoying the ride, and they’re excited. But they know we play in central Kentucky and it’s hard to find a bad game there. We’ve played good teams, and we felt good about it.”

Shelby County ran its winning streak to seven and will face Eastern in Saturday’s 10 a.m. quarterfinal.

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No. 5 McCracken County (28-11) was making its ninth straight appearance in the state tournament but still is chasing its first championship.

“Baseball is unfair some days, and today was one of those days,” Mustangs coach Zach Hobbs said. “And Shelby County is good.”

The Rockets got the only runs they needed in the bottom of the first inning. Carter White led off with a single and scored on Whisman’s triple. Foster Whisman followed with a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.

Pinch-hitter Brayden Burchfield added an RBI single in the fifth inning to give Shelby County a 3-0 edge.

“We get runs early and put pressure on people, and we have the pitching to make them press a little bit,” Kingsolver said. “I think that plays a big role in what happened.”

Kemper Whisman, Cook and a solid Rockets defense took care of the rest.

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Whisman (7-1), a right-hander headed to Rend Lake College, allowed two hits and a walk and struck out three in five innings.

“I was just trying to fill up the zone,” said Whisman, adding that his two-seam fastball was his best pitch of the day. “My defense was really working hard today. I was going to let them get a lot of work because I didn’t want to go up there and walk and try to strike out everybody. It really helped me on the mound. It kept my stamina up.”

Cook pitched the final two innings, allowing one hit and striking out two to pick up his fourth save of the season.

Of McCracken County’s 21 outs, 15 came via fly balls. The only ground-ball out was on a bunt attempt.

“There were four or five legit bad fly balls, but I thought we hit a lot of line drives right at them,” Hobbs said. “Quite honestly, this team has struck out too much. So I was pleased we didn’t strike out very much. But (Shelby County) made plays.”

Now it's on to the quarterfinals for a proud Shelby County program that won the state title in 1979 and was state runner-up three times (1966, 1991 and 2007).

If the rest of the state hasn’t taken notice of the Rockets, Shelbyville certainly has.

“The whole city of Shelbyville is going crazy every single day,” Kemper Whisman said. “It feels so nice to bring some light back to Shelbyville.”

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MCCRACKEN CO.  000   000   0 -  0   3   0

SHELBY CO.           200   010   x -   3   5   0

WP – Kemper Whisman (7-1). LP – Zach Sims (7-2). Save – Hunter Cook (4).

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @kyhighs.