Bluebirds hope to carry momentum into region tournament

Jennifer Jones Photo. Highlands junior Alex Veneman rounds third and heads for home in Thursday's 36th District championship win over Bellevue. The Bluebirds take on the Beechwood Tigers in Monday's 9th Region Tournament quarterfinals at University of Cincinnati Medical Center Stadium at 4 p.m. 

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

It has been a process.

The Highlands Bluebirds baseball team won just six games and did not qualify for the 9th Region Tournament just three years ago. They’ve since won three straight 36th District championships and own their first two region wins since 2002.

The Bluebirds stand 20-17 marking the first time they’ve won 20 or more games in a season since 2007 and have clinched consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2008. Highlands would not mind making a run in the region tournament similar to 2012 if not beyond that. The Bluebirds lost 3-1 in the region championship to district rival and state quarterfinalist Newport Central Catholic that year.

“A lot of it is making sure the coaches are putting in the work so guys take us seriously,” said Jeremy Baioni, Highlands Head Coach. “There are a lot of kids at Highlands who want to work hard. They don’t want to just go through the motions. When they see you doing that, they show up and buy in. Highlands was always successful with multi-sport athletes. We’re getting back to that now for all of our sports.”

But Highlands has a tough opponent standing in the way of playing another day in the 35th District runner-up Beechwood Tigers (25-11). Highlands takes on Beechwood at 4 p.m. at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center Stadium on Monday in the region quarterfinals. The Tigers beat the Bluebirds, 7-4 on May 1.

“We’re confident going into the region,” said Joey Cochran, Highlands senior pitcher. “We think we’ll be able to put it all together.”

Teams generally need pitching depth to win three games in three days. The Bluebirds have that with the likes of Cochran, Lou Bunning, Evan Allen, Kenny Ball, Mitch Jones, Jacob Noe and Joseph Martin.

Many of those arms have more than a week’s worth of rest entering the tournament. The Bluebirds run-ruled both Newport (13-0) and Bellevue (10-0) in five innings on their way to the district championship. Junior Varsity call-up Ricky Raisor threw a no-hitter against Newport with Cochran and Martin throwing four and one innings respectively against Bellevue in a one-hitter. No other team run-ruled both district tournament opponents.

Highlands hopes to continue to play with that same consistency in the tournament. The Bluebirds have blown leads late in games and can’t afford to get down to the Tigers like they did against St. Henry in last year’s 3-2 region quarterfinal loss. The Crusaders scored twice in the first inning and the Bluebirds struggled to hit off St. Henry ace Mitch Kuebbing.

“Our guys are finally experienced,” Baioni said. “They’ve been in a ton of games against good teams. They understand how important it is to stay focused for seven innings. That’s the best we can do to prepare them for a region-type setting and I think we’ve done that.”

Highlands could face a Division I recruit on the mound in Beechwood senior Jason Suchanek. Suchanek is headed to Xavier University. But the Bluebirds have shown they can smack the ball around led by Todd Ramey and Ball and steal a ton of bases. Bluebirds like Brady Murray, Alex Veneman and Grayson Heck have given opposing catchers fits on the bases this year. They stole five against the Tigers.

“We basically try to take the same approach to every pitcher,” Ramey said. “We stay back in the box. The aces usually throw harder than the other pitchers. We try to hit it on a line. We work on different things during the year. We hope everything is clicking (in the postseason).”

Highlands finished 5-7 against teams in the region tournament. The Bluebirds beat Bellevue and St. Henry twice and lost to Conner, Dixie Heights and Covington Catholic two times each. They beat Boone County to open the season.

Regardless of what happens, the future is bright for Highlands baseball. The freshmen and junior varsity teams captured region tournament titles earlier in the month.

“We added a freshman team five years ago,” Baioni said. “A lot of that has to do with the administration buying into the program and what the coaching staff wants to do. A lot of it is the community getting a lot of kids to try out and playing summer baseball. We’re very pleased with where we are now. The freshmen and junior varsity players have worked hard and it paid off.”

The winner plays again Tuesday against either Dixie Heights or Boone County. Game time is 8 p.m. The title game is Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Highlands has not been to the state tournament since 1973. The Bluebirds are 1-3 all-time in three tournament appearances.