EVANSVILLE — Bloomington South’s seniors have been waiting four long years for this moment.
Head coach Phil Kluesner has waited since he took over the Panthers’ program in 2009. For some, since 1984. For many more, all the way back to 1972.
The wait is over. For the first time in 54 years, South is playing for a baseball state championship. And what a, well, not perfect, let’s say ‘appropriate’ manner is more like it.
The No. 10 Panthers were no-hit, but found a way with pitching, defense and taking advantage of a big mistake in a 1-0 win over No. 3 Evansville North in the IHSAA Class 4A semi-state championship game at the University of Evansville’s Braun Stadium on a muggy, sometimes rainy Saturday night, June 13.
This is a team that had to grit its teeth through an eight-inning win over rival North for a sectional, through a 13-inning epic over Columbus North for the regional and a through a 4-1 win over stubborn North Central in the semifinals earlier Saturday.
For some Panthers, it was still sinking in.
“The coaches have been telling us for forever, three or four years now, this is the group to do it,” said South senior Connor Couch, who scored the winning run. “Yeah, it’s just unreal.”
“It means the world,” winning pitcher Xavier Hemingway added. “Our coaches are telling us, this is the best team they’ve ever had. They made it to semi-state finals two times. So, third time’s a charm.”
His coach was on the same wavelength. The Panthers (25-6) will play 2024 champ Lake Central (27-8) for the 4A state title on Saturday, June 20 at 8 p.m. at Victory Field in Indianapolis.
“It’s awesome,” South coach Phil Kluesner said. “We ain’t done yet, man. We’re looking to win the whole thing. But this is pretty awesome. Third time’s a charm I guess.”
Pitching, pitching, pitching
The pitching was excellent all day for the Panthers, giving up just one earned run in 14 innings. Couch took care North Central for 5⅔ to get his fourth win of the postseason, with Tyler Morris getting the save in a 4-1 win in the opener.
Then it was Hemingway, bulldog for 6⅓ until a blister popped on a finger of his pitching hand. He wasn’t ready to come out, but the bleeding wouldn’t stop.
“I had another five pitches,” Hemingway said. “If I could have, I would have stayed in there for those last five.”
Hemingway was ready for the moment. He gave up just three of North’s four hits and struck out seven.
“He’s been in those pressure situations pretty much his entire career with us since he was a sophomore,” Kluesner said. “Age and experience does that for you. He doesn’t get fazed. A lot of kids would say, ‘Oh, crap.’ He’s tough.”
Hemingway started off with three out in just four pitches, but then has to sit through a 45-minute rain delay in the second inning. He gave up back-to-back hits coming out of it, but on the last, Jonathan Winstead gunned down a runner from center trying to score, fortuitously keeping it 0-0.
He worked around a walk and an error in the third, a single and walk in the fourth and an error in the sixth.
“I’ve been in situations like that all year,” Hemingway said. “That’s what the entire year is for, preparing for this game. Obviously, your heart races a little bit more, but it wasn’t too big of a moment.”
Instead, Kluesner had to turn to shortstop Reid Walker again. Walker closed out the win over Columbus North and would do it again, thought it got interesting real quick.
A walk, a strikeout and an infield hit loaded the bases before a lazy fly to left sent the Panthers into hysterics.
“It’s pitching and defense,” Kluesner said. “Pitching and defense wins championships. I know we made a couple errors, but when you’ve got Xavier on the mound making pitches like that, it kind of diluted the errors.
“I got a little nervous when I had to take Xavier out, but dang, Reid, he’s got ice-water in his veins.”
“We’re a gritty team,” Hemingway added. “We just find ways to win.”
Just one run is all it took
Evansville North, last year’s state runners-up, were coming off their own gutsy win, 2-0, over Center Grove. Junior AJ Baggett, a tough junior lefty with great command and an Indiana commit, was the pitcher South would have to figure out.
The Panthers did hit the ball hard, but never found any gaps. The only recourse was to manufacture something, and that they did.
The first two batters in the bottom of the fourth struck out as it looked like Baggett was going to keep cruising. But Connor Couch dug in and earned a walk.
“That was a long at-bat,” Couch said. “I had to earn that walk. But I think I knew we just needed a spark because the last two outs were quick. I just knew I needed to fight and keep fighting.
“And I was just on first base and then Drew hit a little ground ball, and it just magically worked out.”
Drew Palileo sent a routine grounder to third, but the throw was low and got away. Couch got on his horse and sped all the way around, sliding in safely without a play.
“So good,” Couch said of the feeling. “I think this is the hardest game anyone of us has ever played. Just that one run, so much relief.”
“I’ve never seen him run that fast in my life,” Hemingway joked.
That was it. South’s only base runners came on four walks against Baggett and sophomore reliever Carson Frome.
“We saw (Baggett) before,” Couch said. “We were hitting him hard, but it just wasn’t landing. But I think we knew we had it.”
“We knew we had everything cut out for us, with the crowd, and they lived up to it,” Kluesner added. “We were just able to scratch a mistake across and they didn’t, so that’s kind of the difference there.”
Semifinal: South 4, North Central 1
After Evansville North tripped up No. 1 Center Grove, South went to work.
The opener was a grinder offensively, but the pitching was up to the task.
“That’s what it’s felt like these past couple of games,” McCammon said. “But we got the job done. It’s about being consistent; I feel like that’s what helped us a lot with this team. Just swinging at good pitches and being aggressive at the plate helps a lot.”
The Panthers created plenty of havoc and traffic on the basepaths right off the bat as North Central (21-7) committed three errors in the first two innings. South had nine hits, but also had eight flyouts.
Palileo made 1-0 in the second when he had a leadoff single, went to second on a sac bunt and scooted to third when the NC first baseman decided to throw to second, despite the fact Palileo was standing calmly on the bag. The high throw let him advance to third, where he scored on a Boston Held base hit.
“It got us some momentum,” McCammon said.
Couch worked out of a two-out jam in the bottom of the third and then South put up two more runs in the top of the fourth.
McCammon singled and courtesy runner Collin Marcum stole second. Held singled to put runners at the corners and then stole second. Winstead’s sacrifice fly to center made it 2-0, After a two-out walk, Max Surdam;s RBI single pushed the lead to 3-0 and that chased NC sophomore starter Cy Street.
North Central was limited to five hits and struck out six times, including the game clincher by Tyler Morris.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: ‘It’s just unreal’ How Bloomington South baseball won semi-state title
Reporting by Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times | USA TODAY Network
