Believe it or not, we’re just three weeks away from the IHSAA baseball sectional tournament. I’ve been making the rounds from baseball field to baseball field trying to get in as much hardball as I can before the postseason begins.
Here’s some intel from around the Central Indiana high school baseball world.
University achieves a first
University High School in Carmel opened in 2000 and fielded its first baseball team in 2006. The Trailblazers have had many successful teams, but they achieved a first with their 6-5 win over Cathedral Thursday.
The game was cold and rainy, and the ‘Blazers watched their five-run lead disappear in the fifth inning. With the game tied at five in the bottom of the sixth, Princeton commit Ryan Castetter plated the winning run from second with a double into the left-center gap. Sophomore Finn Steiner struck out four over two scoreless innings to secure the win.
“This is a game that means a lot to us,” Castetter said. “They’re a bigger school than us. We play them every year. … We knew this was going to be a fight coming in. They have some good arms; we just put together some good at bats all day.
“Even though the weather was kinda crappy, we stood in there and cheered on each other. When I came up with a guy on second, I knew I had to do my job and hit the ball hard.”
Castetter said the game between the ‘Blazers and the Fighting Irish had a postseason feel to it, serving as a meaningful test for a University squad eyeing a postseason run. The win moves the ‘Blazers to 15-6 on the season, but another important test awaits Tuesday when the ‘Blazers host Park Tudor.
Park Tudor and University will play again in the Class 2A sectional semifinals. The winner will advance to the sectional championship. University coach Chris Estep said games like the one against Cathedral and the numerous tough teams University has faced throughout the season will prepare his team for tournament baseball.
“Throughout the year we have a pretty good schedule, and we get to see a lot of really good teams,” Estep said. “The dugouts going back and forth, the excitement, everybody’s playing and then at the end everybody is hugging. That’s the way you want it. You want the competitive environment and competitive atmosphere.”
Adjustments at the plate fuel Ian Taylor’s power surge
A mechanical tweak and added strength have allowed Guerin Catholic center fielder Ian Taylor to tap into his power at the plate.
Last season, the George Mason commit struggled to time up fastballs. To better catch up to the heat and drive it, Taylor worked with his brother, former Guerin Catholic and Purdue outfielder Keenan Taylor, to stay on his backside, allowing him to stay balanced and better incorporate his lower half into his swing, which produces more power.
The results have been impressive. As a junior, Taylor hit four home runs in 31 games. Twenty games into his senior season, Taylor has nine home runs. He hit home runs in three consecutive games last week, and he started the season with five homers in his first six games.
Tweaks in the box aren’t the only things that sparked Taylor’s breakout season. The senior is being more mindful off the field, tapping into the mental side of the game as well.
“Something mental that’s helped a lot is after every single game, I journal about what could have gone better and what I did bad to work on in the future,” Taylos said. “So, really, it’s just kind of relaxing up there.”
On the season, Taylor is batting .491 with 18 walks to just 11 strikeouts, 33 runs scored, 27 RBIs, nine homers, four doubles, two triples and seven stolen bases.
“Ian has been so clutch for us this year,” Guerin coach Dave Schrage said. “He’s more relaxed, he’s more confident. He’s put in a lot of time in the winter and it’s paying off right now.”
May Madness (baseball sectionals)
The NCAA Basketball tournament is a wildly popular single-elimination tournament where teams are seeded one through 16 based on regular season success and play for a chance to win a national championship.
Seeding gives underdogs a chance to rise up and produce Cinderella moments, but it’s also the fairest way to produce a tournament bracket. The IHSAA baseball tournament is not seeded, meaning the sectional bracket is produced at random, and the regular season does not factor into who, when or where teams play.
With or without seeding, Sectional 8 will always be the toughest sectional in the state. State title hopefuls Zionsville and Noblesville will meet in the first round and will be rewarded with a chance to play either Hamilton Southeastern or Carmel in the semifinals. Westfield and Fishers earned first-round byes, giving the teams more flexibility when deciding who to pitch, but that semifinal match wouldn’t look out of place at Victory Field for the state title.
Noblesville coach Justin Keever has spoken openly about the need for seeding, but the IHSAA has yet to budge. In Sectional 12, Center Grove, the No. 1 team in the state, will have to play a first round game while Perry Meridian and Southport receive byes into the semifinals. One of Center Grove or Mooresville won’t even get a chance to play for a sectional title, and as a baseball fan, that’s unfortunate.
Eli Sinsabaugh is bringing back the bunt
Cathedral shortstop, Army commit Eli Sinsabaugh brings track speed to the baseball diamond, but a hamstring injury limited him to just 12 games last season.
Sinsabaugh has recovered from the nagging injury, and his speed helped spark a rally on a ball that did not leave the infield. Sinsabaugh recorded the rare RBI bunt on a well-placed ball down the first-base line against the Trailblazers. Michael Gallagher, Andrew Confer, Scott Bushong and Tyler Carlos all followed with RBIs, tying the game at 5-5 in the fifth.
With Sinsabaugh in the leadoff spot, a potential rally is never out of the cards.
“He’s done a good job of mixing (the bunt) in,” Cathedral coach Ed Freije said. “Obviously his speed and running ability are a weapon for us, and we can utilize that in a lot of different ways. He’s competing well. … Not the start we wanted by any means, but we showed some life and showed some fight.”
Sinsabaugh embraces his role as Cathedral’s leadoff hitter. Whether he’s talking a walk, hitting a line drive or dropping down a bunt, the shortstop wants to be a spark for his team.
“I just want to bring a lot of energy,” Sinsabaugh said. “Especially with how this game started, kind of slow, we were all kind of flat. Getting that bunt off brought us the energy, brought us back to life and helped us get back into the game.”
Through 17 games, Sinsabaugh has a .357/.471/.500 slash line with 11 walks to just eight strikeouts, six doubles, one triple, and five stolen bases.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Insights from high school baseball: A University first, Ian Taylor’s power surge and more
Reporting by Akeem Glaspie, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
