Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Two weeks after a 16-0 win at Harlan, the Harlan County Black Bears found themselves in a much tougher situation Saturday in a rematch in the finals of the Upper Cumberland Middle School Baseball Conference championship at Leslie County.
Harlan had the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the top of the sixth inning before Jackson Mackowiak induced a pop up to first baseman Bryson Kelly by Brantley McArthur to end a 10-9 victory for the Bears.
Logan Mills led the Harlan County offense with a triple, double and single with three runs scored and two RBI. Gabriel Helton and Carter Caldwell had three singles each. Mackowiak, Kelly and Myles Jenkins had one single each.
Helton started on the mound and struck out five in three innings while giving up six runs. Mackowiak gave up three runs in three innings to earn the save.
“It’s not how you start but how you finish. This team set a goal to win the conference championship. We had a tough bracket starting with Bell on Thursday and then playing back to back games against good teams on Saturday. We were little fatigued in the championship game, but they battled and going back and forth against Harlan,” Harlan County coach Walt Kelly said. “Our pitching was good during this tournament between Logan Mills, Andrew Vance, Gabriel Helton and Jackson Mackowaik — they all pitched well. “
Zach Boggs led the 9-6 Dragons with a triple and single. Brody Brock singled twice. Cooper Thomas, Isaac Noe, Derrick Holman, McArthur and Bentley Howard added one single each.
———
Mills struck out three over 4 1/3 innings to earn the win as Harlan County downed Knox Central 12-6 in the semifinals.
Mackowiak led the HC offense with a double and single. Caldwell singled twice. Mills, Kelly, Helton and Jenkins singled once each.
Helton recorded the final five outs and struck out two.
———
Thomas hit an inside-the-park grand slam, added two singles and earned the win on the mound as the Dragons upset top-seeded Leslie County 6-4 on Friday in the semifinals.
Brock, Landon Smith, Boggs and Howard added one single each.
Thomas struck out nine and walked three as he gave up four runs on six hits over 4 1/3 innings. Boggs gave up two hits while striking out two and walking one over 1 2/3 innings to earn the save.
Boggs pounded out three hits as the Dragons downed Cumberland 9-5 in the quarterfinals on Friday. Brock, Holman and McArthur had two hits each. Thomas, Isaac Noe, Howard, Isaiah Pryor, Howard and Nate Thomas added one hit each.
Holman gave up four runs on four hits with three strikeouts and two walks in three innings on the mound. Aidan Burnette allowed one run on two hits with three strikeouts and two walks over 1 2/3 innings. Brock walked the two batters he faced before Boggs allowed one hit before getting the final out to record a save.
Tobey Lunsford and Brayan Perez had two hits each for the Redskins. Hunter Fuson, Byron Shepherd and Dakota Smith had one hit each.
Lunsford gave up eight runs on nine hits with six strikeouts and two walks over four innings. Brycen Saylor allowed one run on five hits with one strikeout in one inning.
———
Harlan 321 021 — 9. 9. 0
Harlan County 331 30x — 10. 11 1
Brock and Boggs; Helton, Mackowiak (4) and Coker. WP — Helton. LP — Brock. Sv — Mackowiak.