Covington Catholic leading the way in Ninth Region baseball with a dominant pitching staff
Eli Wagner has been one of the top pitchers in Northern Kentucky high school baseball this season.
Like his teammates, the Covington Catholic senior is focused on being at his peak in the postseason and helping the Colonels make a run at the state tournament.
Wagner took a big step in that direction Thursday, pitching a no-hitter against Holy Cross in a 6-0 Colonels win at CovCath.
Wagner struck out 13 and walked one. The 6-foot-4 left-hander regretted that the one walk kept him from having a perfect game, but he was pleased with the improvement he showed against the Indians.
Wagner is a key player for the Colonels, who are 22-2 and have the most wins in the Ninth Region.
He improved his record to 6-0, and has 50 strikeouts in 39 innings, allowing only 17 hits. He has allowed only three earned runs for the year.
“It was probably the first day I used my curveball pretty well,” he said. “I’ve been struggling with that all year, so it’s good to have that back. It feels good.”
CovCath head coach Bill Krumpelbeck knows more than anyone that any regular-season win, while important, is also a rehearsal to win in the postseason.
Krumpelbeck picked up his 1,100th career win March 23 at Highlands, and has 1,118 entering a weekend tournament at Boyd County High School. He is 26 victories away from tying second place for most all-time victories in the state. Current Harrison County head coach Mac Whitaker has 1,237 and counting.
CovCath, ranked 14th in the state by Prep Baseball Report, will play three games in Ashland, including matchups with 19th-ranked Pikeville and 11th-ranked Lexington Catholic, plus an East Carter squad that is 14-6.
“It’s been turning out really well,” said CovCath junior Jackson Reardon. “We’ve been playing well as a team lately. Everyone’s putting in the work.”
The success starts with Wagner and the pitching staff. Among Wagner’s wins is a 3-1 victory over preseason Ninth Region favorite Ryle in which he allowed four hits in 5 1/3 innings.
CovCath allows fewer than two runs per game and has a team earned-run average of 1.37.
“Obviously when you have pitching, you’re in every game,” Krumpelbeck said. “That’s baseball at every level. When you got the arms, you stay in games and then figure out how to score some."
Bradley Zekl, a Hanover commit, is 6-0 with a 1.45 ERA and has allowed only 19 hits in 38 2/3 innings. Marcus Suwinski is 3-0 with a 1.06 ERA. Luke Pieper has a 1.19 ERA in 17 2/3 relief innings.
Senior Charlie Dieruf, who has committed as a pitcher to Miami University, has only thrown nine innings due to a minor injury and Krumpelbeck wants him to be at full strength for the postseason.
Consistency in the offense is a key for Krumpelbeck. CovCath averages nearly eight runs per game but doesn’t have a lot of balance in the lineup beyond a few stars, the coach said.
“We don’t hit the ball a whole lot,” he said. “We’ve tried all kinds of different things. We need to get a little better at the end of the year if we want to do anything.”
Dieruf is hitting .352 with three homers, a team-high 19 steals and 27 runs scored. He plays center field.
Reardon, a UC Bearcats commit, is hitting .446 from the leadoff spot with 12 doubles and 27 runs scored.
“UC is a hometown team,” he said. “Pretty much my whole family went there, my grandpa worked there so I’ve been around UC a lot and they gave me a great opportunity.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Dominant pitching leads the way for Covington Catholic baseball
