The Woodford County High School baseball team has always been a team that achieves great success throughout their season. Even winning the state championship in 2012. This year the team has expectations to win the state championship after making the final 4, 2 years ago and losing to the runner-up in the region championship last year. Although the Yellow Jackets lost many key players throughout these seasons the current players believe this could be the best team they’ve had. 

First of all, the pitching on the team is nothing less than stellar. Many people have already heard of star pitcher Taylor Penn who is already committed to playing Division 1 baseball at Western Kentucky University. Taylor has a .24 ERA which is at the top of the state right now. Landon Hiem has also been very effective this year as a number 2 guy behind Penn. Hiem has a 1.93 ERA which has been great for the team this year. The number 3 guy has been Jonah Branham. Branham has pitched the most innings this year with 30.1. He has a 1.85 ERA and a 5-0 record beating good teams like Saint Xavier. Nolan Asher has also been someone who can start games or come in to close out games. He has a 2-0 record with 17 strikeouts in 23 innings. The Jackets

are also awaiting the full return of pitcher Landon Corum who touched 91MPH in his recovery outing. Those are just the starters, however. Justus Wertzler who primarily plays shortstop has been a great closer that has a .62 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 11.1 innings. Riley Lacefield commands a nasty fastball that is very difficult for many hitters to make good contact with based on his funky arm angel. Lastly, Colin Kemp can come into games and throw gas when needed. The whole pitching staff of the Yellow Jackets has combined for a 2.11 ERA and 164 strikeouts. 

Many teams that have great pitching struggle at the plate, but that is not the case with the Yellow Jackets. The Yellow Jackets lineup starts out with left fielder Brandon Bishop. Bishop has a .339 batting average. Bishop likes to use his speed to create havoc on the basepath and ends up in scoring position a lot because of second batter Nolan Asher. Asher excels at moving runners over whether it’s through a bunt, getting a hit, getting walked, or hitting behind the runner. Asher also has a .278 batting average with above a .400 on-base percentage. This leads to Collin Kemp who is one of the best hitters in the state. Kemp leads the team in RBIs with 22, batting average with a whopping .524, and doubles with 7. Kemp is committed to playing Division 2 baseball at the University of Charleston. Next in the Order is Taylor Penn. Although Penn is primarily a

pitcher, he can hit the ball very well. He has a .382 average and lots of pop. Then next up is Brayden Burton who started off the year lighting hot leading the team on average for a while. He has cooled off recently he still bats .362 and is one of the Jackets’ best power hitters. Then is Justus Wertzler who is the Jackets’ best power speed combo. Wertlzer has been a great defensive shortstop and also has a.364 batting average. Then is Ryan Cecil who is one of the best-hitting sophomores to ever come through Woodford County. He is currently batting .313. Then is Jonah Branham who is batting a very respectable .282. The last spot in the lineup hasn’t been solidified, but players like Landon Hiem, JB Martin, Juante Jenkins, and Nash Raisor have all been players who’ve played this year and provided great value. All in all, the team is looking to continue its success and win a state championship this year.