‘You can’t say enough.’ Douglass star aims to close multi-sport career with another title.

In the short time Frederick Douglass High School has existed, a number of outstanding athletes have walked its halls.

Douglass senior Thomas Howard has been wearing orange and green almost since the day the school opened and played alongside the likes of the University of Kentucky’s Jager Burton, Dane Key and Ty Bryant, who joined the Cats early for spring football.

Howard has been making his own mark during all that time.

A four-year football starter at tight end, Howard caught a touchdown pass in the Class 5A title game for the champs.

His junior year, he suited up for the basketball team and helped the Broncos to one of their four straight 42nd District titles.

But baseball is his sport. He’s been a Douglass starter there since seventh grade.

A 6-foot-3 right-handed pitcher whose fastball reaches the 90s, Howard is the son of former Paintsville coach and standout player Tucker Howard, who was a key part of the Tigers’ 1990 state championship team. Tucker Howard is a Douglass assistant coach.

Thomas Howard matured into the kind of baseball player big-time colleges try to wrangle early. He’s been committed to the University of Louisville (where his dad played) since his freshman year.

“You can’t say enough great things about Thomas,” Douglass Coach Eddie Brooks said. “His intensity, his competitiveness — at times we’ve got to hone it in a little bit — but he just makes me look like a great coach when you have players such as that.”

Baseball trophies have been harder to come by in a hyper-competitive 11th Region that currently boasts seven top 25 teams.

But while his stats this season are a bit off their peak of past years and the No. 16 Broncos rank a bit lower in the coaches’ poll than they are used to, Howard (3-3, 2.50 ERA) believes this year’s team has a chance to earn the program’s first district and region titles.

“I’m really confident, more than I have been any of the other years just because of the love and the bond this team has,” Howard said. “A lot more guys are buying into the season.”

Playing for each other

Douglas (18-11) proved how dangerous and tenacious it could be in a 6-5 extra-inning win over then-No. 1 Lexington Catholic on Saturday in the Fayette County Invitational.

Braxton Burse’s two-out RBI single tied the game in the seventh. Jaylen Edmonds knocked in the winning run in the eighth after Clark Tackett drew a leadoff walk and Jack Gross executed a sacrifice bunt to put the runner in scoring position.

“All year long, we’ve been down, and we’ve had games where we’ve not played well,” Brooks said. “But the one thing this group has always done is fought tooth and nail until the end, and they finally broke through with a big win over a great team. That just goes to show the character of the kids that we have and how they play for each other.”

Burse, a senior pitcher who leads the team in wins (four) shares the strikeout lead with Howard (56), had only one official at-bat heading into the weekend. But he had two hits and two RBI in a 13-8 win over Lexington Christian on Friday and delivered in the clutch on Saturday.

“Any type of adversity goes their way, they get right back up and they’re ready to get right back at it,” Howard said. “We had a lot of adversity today. … But they kept battling.”

Douglass scored a run in the third, fourth and fifth innings to keep pace with LexCath, tying the game at 4-4 on RJ Parks’ solo homer in the fifth. The Knights retook the lead in their next at-bat to set up the tying sequence for Burse. Reliever Cameron Atkins pitched the final four innings for the win.

Choosing between football and baseball

As soon as Howard became old enough to be listed on football recruiting charts, he emerged as a three-star prospect. He briefly considered trying to do both in college.

“I talked it over with multiple coaches, and they explained to me how tough it really is to be a two-way player,” Howard said. “Baseball is my sport. That’s my moneymaker. Even though I love football to death … baseball has just been too good to me.”

Howard, who also plays the field at first and third base, had his best season on the mound and at the plate as a sophomore. He led the team with an 8-1 record, posting a 2.46 ERA and 86 strikeouts to go with a .314 batting average. The Broncos reached the 11th Region semifinals despite suffering a narrow loss to Sayre in the district championship.

Last year, Howard went 5-3 with a 1.48 ERA, but the Broncos suffered a 2-0 upset to Henry Clay in the district semifinals. Howard went the distance in that game and struck out 14. The Broncos had swept the Blue Devils in the regular season by a combined score of 15-8.

“It was just one of those days that you just didn’t have your stuff as a hitting team,” Howard said. “It’s tough because I know how good we are, but sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. It hurts, but I’m glad I have one more year to get this done.”

Getting ready for the postseason

Howard has pitched sparingly since straining his forearm against No. 2 St. Xavier on April 18 and was roughed up in losses to Scott County on April 26 and new No. 21 Conner on Saturday, their third game in 24 hours as part of the Fayette event. He struck out two in one inning of relief against Henry Clay last Tuesday.

“I feel good,” Howard said just before his Conner start. “I’ve just been rehabbing and trying to get myself back to where I was.”

Brooks said the team is doing what it can to get Howard to 100 percent for the postseason, which begins May 15. Douglass will be the second seed in the 42nd District Tournament. No. 7 Sayre is the top seed.

Having a win over now No. 4 Lexington Catholic can’t hurt. They’ll face No. 6 Paul Laurence Dunbar and No. 9 Tates Creek in addition to West Jessamine and Hazard this week in preparation.

“A good win is a good win, especially getting ready for the postseason,” Brooks said. “It should get a little more confidence built into these kids and we, hopefully, get rolling when it matters.”