Camryn Warfield and Trinity upset St. Xavier in battle of Kentucky's top baseball teams
The top two teams in Kentucky high school baseball met in Wednesday evening, and it was everything you’d expect from a Trinity-St. Xavier matchup.
Senior Camryn Warfield tossed a two-hit shutout and outdueled Louisville commit Jake Gregor to lead host Trinity over the Tigers 1-0 at Trinity Stadium.
Kyle Campbell’s sixth-inning single provided the scoring for the Shamrocks, the second-ranked team in the latest Prep Baseball Report poll.
The contest between the two archrivals, who have won three out of the last four state titles, had a definite playoff feel, as the Seventh Region powers are likely to meet again in next month’s regional tournament. The Rocks (21-4) and top-ranked Tigers (20-5) have met in four of the last five regional title games.
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Pitchers’ duel
Unlike Gregor, Warfield (4-1) hasn’t committed to a college, but Trinity coach Rick Arnold said his ace deserves the opportunity. The senior entered Wednesday with a 1.02 ERA with 28 strikeouts over 20 2/3 innings.
“Everybody in the country should be on him,” Arnold said. “We’ve had guys that have come through this program since I’ve been here that are in Power Five conferences that he’s better than at this age. His time is coming. He’s a big-time player.”
Warfield showed it Wednesday. In going the distance, he retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced, with the only St. X runner after the second inning coming on a hit batter. He only struck out two over the seven innings, but St. X hitters couldn’t make solid contact. That was thanks mainly, he said, to his fastball.
“As a hitter, you want to jump on fastballs, but them jumping off fastballs that are out of the zone that they aren’t wanting to swing at just gave me more space to work how I wanted to and play my game,” Warfield said.
Gregor (3-3) nearly matched his counterpart on the mound. The junior retired the first 11 batters he saw before giving up an infield single in the fourth.
In his six innings he allowed just two hits and struck out six, but he also allowed a couple of walks.
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Campbell comes through
Gregor had some trouble in the sixth, giving up two walks to start the inning. While Ryan Comella threw out Caleb Ricks trying to steal second for the first out, Colin Sander got to second after an errant pick-off attempt.
That set the stage for Campbell. The junior sent Tigers outfielders to the warning track in his first two at-bats. He barely made contact in his third at-bat, but the bleeder found its way through the right side of the infield, with Sands scoring from second.
“That’s just how baseball is somedays,” Campbell said. “Some days it’s your day, and some days it’s not. I’ve got to give it to my team because we wouldn’t have been in that game without our defense and our pitching. Overall, it’s a team win.”
St. X coach Andy Porta said his starter deserved a better outcome.
“We kind of left him on an island out there,” Porta said. “We keep having zeros up there. He’s putting more and more pressure on himself to match the zeroes.”
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Moving forward
While the win was huge for the Shamrocks for several reasons, the bigger games will come next month for both schools at postseason play begins in less than three weeks.
“You just tip your cap to them, and we’ll reload,” Porta said. “We’ll get after Floyd Central (Indiana) tomorrow, and there’s a real good chance we’ll meet up in the Seventh Region. What round remains to be seen, but we’ll be ready.”
For Trinity, the win gave a young team some confidence moving forward. Warfield was the only senior who played for the Shamrocks on Wednesday.
The bigger takeaway for Arnold was seeing his defense come up with some big plays across the infield to help Warfield earn the shutout.
“We needed the conference boost with the defense,” he said. “Our defense has been average. Nothing bad, nothing great, but tonight, it was great.”
ST. XAVIER 000 000 0 – 0 2 1
TRINITY 000 001 X – 1 2 0
W: Camryn Warfield. L: Jake Gregor.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KHSAA baseball: Trinity upsets St. Xavier in battle of state powers
