LONDON — Ethan Allen and Kip Allen powered No. 2 ranked Whitley County into the 13th Region Baseball Tournament championship game Wednesday as the Colonels defeated Harlan, 7-3, in semifinal action at North Laurel.
Ethan Allen finished with a double, two RBI and two walks while Kip Allen added two hits and two RBI as Whitley County improved to 37-3 on the season.
Luke Hillard also turned in a big game for the Colonels, collecting two hits and scoring a run while Caden Mountjoy and Dee Parker each drove in runs in the victory.
“Great win for our guys. Postseason wins are never easy,” Whitley County coach Jeremy Shope said. “Harlan gave us all we wanted. Varner was good tonight. We had to grind out a win. It was good for us to see a good arm heading into tomorrow. We are honored to be able to compete in the 13th Region Championship game. Cooper and Eli struck out nine guys. Eli didn’t walk any in 4.1 innings. Every guy in our lineup had a hit tonight. It was a total team win. Go Colonels.”
Whitley County broke the game open early with a five-run second inning and never trailed. The Colonels added two more runs in the fifth inning after Harlan battled back into the game.
Eli Powers delivered a strong relief outing to pick up the win, allowing just one unearned run over 4.1 innings while striking out five. Cooper Parman started the game and struck out four over 2.2 innings.
Harlan finished (18-14) with nine hits in the loss. Jaxson Perry led the Green Dragons by going 3-for-4 while Eli Freyer added two hits. Brody Owens and Chris Rouse each drove in runs.
The Green Dragons trimmed their deficit to 5-3 after four innings, but the Colonels answered with two insurance runs in the fifth inning and held Harlan scoreless the rest of the way.
