Gabe East tossed a one-hitter and Tate VanHooser homered twice as Caldwell County shut out Hopkins County Central 8-0 in the 7th District baseball tournament on Monday.
The Tigers (16-14) will play for their eighth-straight district championship on Tuesday, facing Madisonville-North Hopkins in the 5:30 p.m. title tilt in Mortons Gap.
Madisonville (19-14) advanced to the district finale by pulling away late to beat Dawson Springs 10-0 in six innings in Monday’s first semifinal game.
It’s the 10th-straight year the Tigers and Maroons have reached the championship game.
Caldwell used a six-run second inning to dismiss Hopkins Central.
East singled home the first two runs of the contest.Oliver Parker picked up an RBI when he grounded out to shortstop, making it 3-0.
VanHooser followed with a two-run shot to left field That stretched Caldwell’s lead to 5-0.
Back-to-back doubles by Cody Holub and John Davis resulted in another run to give the Tigers their 6-0 lead.
Caldwell tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth when Parker walked and VanHooser homered to center.
That was more than enough run support for East, who struck out nine and walked just one in the complete-game performance. He needed 81 pitches to get Caldwell back in the district championship game.
Logan Scarbrough’s one-out single in the second was the only base hit for the Storm (9-21).
VanHooser was 3-for-3 with four RBIs to lead the Caldwell offense. Logan Smiley was 2-for-3 while Cody Holub went 2-for-4 with a double.
By advancing to the district championship game, both Caldwell and Madisonville have earned berths in the 2nd Region baseball tournament next week at Union County.
