BASEBALL: Cougars celebrate 50th anniversary win

In fact, Lowery is the only high school baseball coach Jefferson High has known. After two years as the baseball coach at Harpers Ferry High, Lowery transitioned over to Jefferson High, guiding the Cougars to 12 Class AAA state baseball championships over the past 50 years.

As has been the case most of the time in Jefferson High’s baseball history, the Cougars started their season with a win. Thanks to a sixth-inning balk by a Frankfort High pitcher, Jefferson High edged the Falcons, 3-2.

It wasn’t the prettiest of wins last Thursday, but the Cougars got the job done. Lowery was quick to point out these kinds of starts aren’t all that uncommon.

“It’s still March,” Lowery said of Jefferson High’s early sluggishness. “We might have had a little bit of nerves going on out there, but once we relax a little bit, I think we’ll settle in.”

There are some new faces on this year’s baseball team. One of which, starting center fielder Cole Lewis, had two hits from his No. 5 spot in the batting order. A junior, he spent two years on the Jefferson High junior varsity squad honing his skills.

“We started off slow in this game, but that’s OK,” Lewis said. “We just needed to get some of the rust off early. We’ve got to build on some things, get better as we go.”

As far as personal goals are concerned, Lewis is very team-oriented. While he wants to keep improving as a player, he is looking at the total picture.

“I want to contribute to this team every way I can,” he said. “I want to be as good a team player as I can, help this team win, get us back to Charleston for the state tournament, and help us win another state title.”

Lewis had the only multi-hit game for Jefferson. Riley Morgan and J.J. Polvinale each had singles. No one on either team had an extra-base hit.

Jefferson took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI single from Riley Morgan. The Cougars made it a 2-0 game in the fourth when Josh Cienfuegos pushed across a run when he grounded out to the Frankfort High shortstop.

The Falcons tied the score at 2 in the fifth on a two-run single from Jake Jacobs. In the Cougars’ half of the sixth, Lewis led off with a single to right center field, then advanced tosecond on a wild pitch.

Daquon Shipe followed with a line drive out to shortstop. Cuenfuegos reached first on an error by the Frankfort right fielder, which moved Lewis to third. Lewis scored Jefferson’s go-ahead run on the Frankfort pitcher’s balk.

The Falcons were retired in order in the top of the seventh, ending the game.

“We had opportunities to score more runs, but we made a few mistakes,” Lowery said. “That’s something we need to work on, but we played good defense.”

Jefferson pitched by committee last Thursday. Shipe was the starter, going three innings and pitching one-hit baseball. Ryan Hefner pitched two innings, allowing two earned runs.

Caleb Fletcher pitched the sixth and seventh, earning the win in relief for Jefferson.

“That was our plan all along,” Lowery said of the decision to go with three pitchers. “We wanted to give them some work, see how they’re developing.”

Lowery said anyone who has been around baseball for a long time knows if the pitching and defense is good, games are winnable “The pitching and defense can help you stay in games,” he said.