13th Region Releases Baseball Tourney Pairings; Jackets Host Barbourville
The 2022 high school baseball tournament pairings for the eight-team 13th Region have been set. The first-round play begins on Monday evening, May 23 with four district tournament winners serving as the host.
The Middlesboro Yellow Jackets (17-10), who won their sixth straight 52nd District tournament title last week, will host Barbourville (12-11) at Middlesboro with the first pitch set for 6:00 p.m. Both schools have met twice this season, splitting the series at 1-1. The Jackets won the first game 12-3 in the 13th Region All "A" tournament in late March, while Barbourville won 12-11 in the second matchup in early April.
The other first-round contests are Harlan County (10-19) at Clay County (17-12), Corbin (23-12) at Knox Central (15-11) and Jackson County (14-12) at Whitley County (26-10).
The first-round winners will advance to the regional semifinals Tuesday, May 24 at South Laurel with the championship game on Wednesday, May 25, also at South Laurel.
The winner of the Middlesboro-Barbourville matchup will face the winner of Jackson County-Whitley County game in Tuesday's nightcap, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Whitley County and Corbin are considered the top contenders for the 13th Region title.
The pairings for the girls' softball tournament in the 13th Region at Lincoln Memorial University were scheduled to be released Saturday morning, but the brackets have not been posted on KHSAA's website as of Saturday night.
