Two South Bend Tribune coverage area IHSAA baseball teams have won regional championships in the last three seasons, and there’s a strong chance at least two will do so again this year. Five squads won sectional championships across three classes, four of which were repeat winners from last season.
Goshen and NorthWood, who each made semi-state runs in 2025, have the chance to do once more this weekend, while New Prairie and Penn are looking to reverse its regional fortune from last year. Meanwhile, Bremen is playing past the sectional round for the first time since 2023, and they very well could make their first trip to semi-state in a decade.
With that in mind, let’s predict all five regional championship games from the South Bend Tribune coverage area. All games are scheduled for this Saturday, June 6. All times Eastern unless noted otherwise.
Class 4A: Penn vs. Valparaiso
Game info: 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT at LaPorte High School
In the first of three straight South Bend Tribune coverage area regional championship games that should be among the best in Indiana, the Kingsmen and Vikings should both also be two of the most motivated teams in their class.
Ranked as the top team in 4A heading into the 2025 state tournament, Penn lost in the regional round to Goshen. On the other hand, Valparaiso won its first state championship in program history last season.
Either Penn goes home earlier than it feels it should for the third season in a row, or the defending champs are sent packing without the chance to defend their crown.
The Kingsmen’s ace, senior Purdue University commit Cayden Stockbridge, will be tough for the Vikings to hit, and Penn’s 24-6 record edges out Valparaiso’s 23-7 mark.
But experience matters more than anything in the state tournament. The Vikings were ranked fifth in 4A by the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association (IHSBCA) while the Kingsmen were ranked seventh heading into sectional play for a reason, and the former will back that up with a closely contested victory.
Class 4A: Goshen vs. Lake Central
Game info: 2 p.m. at Four Winds Field, South Bend
This is another can’t-miss regional title clash. These are not the same RedHawks that went into last season’s state tournament with a losing record only to make a run to the Final Four. Goshen received top-10 votes in the final IHSBCA poll of the season while its regional opponent, Lake Central, was nowhere to be found.
However, Lake Central not only beat the RedHawks 10-4 in the regular season, but it also had to beat 4A No. 2 Crown Point to win a sectional championship. Goshen’s 10-0 route of Concord in its sectional title game is nothing to sneeze at, and its duo of senior Braxton Cline at the plate and senior Ryen Diaz on the mound is very formidable.
Betting against the Indians seems foolish though, given their strength of schedule with a 24-8 record. In another close game, Lake Central will win its third regional championship of the 2020s.
Class 3A: New Prairie vs. Andrean
Game info: 11 a.m. at Four Winds Field, South Bend
In what might be the best regional title bout of the first three listed here, it’s a battle between the two most recent 3A state champions at the home of the South Bend Cubs.
New Prairie (23-6) is on a roll, having won 10 of its last 11 games en route to capturing its fourth straight sectional championship. The Cougars won the Northern Indiana Conference (NIC) and boast victories against sectional champions in Highland, Penn and Valparaiso, but the defending state champion Andrean 59ers are the top-ranked squad in 3A with a 27-3 record.
They’ve won five regional championships in the last 10 seasons, and even with New Prairie’s large senior class that has also experienced the thrill of winning a state championship, it seems like Andrean could prove too much to overcome. The 59ers only losses this season were against Highland, top-ranked Illinois squad St. Laurence and Hobart.
The 10th-ranked Cougars won’t roll over, but expect Andrean to advance to semi-state here.
Class 3A: NorthWood vs. Highland
Game info: 5 p.m. at NorthWood
Finally, time for some positive predictions. The NorthWood Panthers made their first semi-state run since 2017 last season, and they seem poised to do so again this Saturday.
NorthWood is 18-12-1 and won all three sectional games by at least three runs. Highland, despite boasting a win against Andrean, heads into the regional round at 13-16. The Trojans’ strength of schedule proves their record may be deceiving, but they also haven’t won a regional championship since 1999.
Although the Panthers have an almost entirely new starting lineup this season after being led by a large senior class last season, head coach Zach Benko’s state tournament experience will win out in what should also be a very competitive game.
Class 2A: Bremen vs. Bluffton
Game info: 1 p.m. at NorthWood High School
History is on the line in the final South Bend Tribune coverage area regional championship game, as Bremen’s opponent has never won a regional title while the Lions have just two to their name – the most recent of which came in 2016. Bremen had to beat last season’s sectional champion Jimtown to advance to the regional round, while Bluffton won its first title since 2019 by beating Woodlan.
Neither team are ranked nor received top-10 votes in the final IHSBCA poll of the season, but Bremen’s 20-7 record compared to the Tigers’ 16-10 mark feels like the biggest indicator of how this game could go. Bluffton’s strength of schedule was tougher, yet it still feels like the Lions’ time to advance to semi-state.
If they can, it would be the school’s third team to do so in the 2025-26 academic year.
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at ksmedley@usatodayco.com or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Predicting South Bend area IHSAA baseball regional championship games
Reporting by Kyle Smedley, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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By Kyle Smedley, South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
