EVANSVILLE — That was the best evening of the high school baseball season. End of discussion.
The IHSAA baseball sectional semifinal round delivered the goods on Friday around Southwestern Indiana. This isn’t being a prisoner of the moment either. A few of these results will (or nearly did) have ramifications for the rest of the state tournament. Among the highlights: a pair of extra-inning masterpieces and more than one close call for the top contenders.
The bar was raised on what will be considered good baseball. Let’s discuss it all.
An all-timer at Bosse Field to finish the night
Think about the number of quality teams and athletes who have competed in Sectional 16 during the last decade. I wouldn’t even know how to truly parse out the best moments. But this game belongs in the discussion.
North 2, Castle 1 in eight innings. A nearly three-hour classic that was everything one hoped it would be.
The combined totals are enough to fill two games: 287 pitches thrown, 27 strikeouts, 17 hits, six walks and only three runs. North left a mind-boggling 15 runners on base. Castle had the bases loaded with nobody out and couldn’t score. This was high-level baseball between two of the stronger programs in Southern Indiana.
Daniel Cranick finally sent everyone home with a seeing-eye single up the middle just shy of 11 p.m. CT.
“That’s one heck of a win,” North coach Jeremy Jones said. “We made some mistakes. We didn’t execute. But pitching found a way to bail us out time after time. Pitching is carrying us. In the postseason, that’s why you win.”
The mound is a good place to start when answering why the No. 3 Huskies advanced. AJ Baggett was on the verge of a special performance before hitting trouble in the sixth inning. His final line was still impressive: 5-plus innings with four hits allowed and seven strikeouts. But if anybody deserves the game ball, look to Ty Pohl.
The sophomore saved North’s season with three scoreless innings in relief and five strikeouts. The only run, credited to Baggett, came on a fly ball with the bases loaded that outfielder Ty Land misplayed in the lights. Pohl proceeded to strike out the next three batters. He also escaped a two-runner jam in the seventh.
“I can’t say enough good things about him,” Jones said. “He wanted the ball. He executed and threw strikes. We believed in him. Tonight was just kind of the climax for as good as he is.”
The other side also deserved any and all praise. Preston Seidl proved once and for all his caliber of pitching. The Cincinnati commit went 6 1/3 innings with only six hits allowed and 12 strikeouts before hitting the pitch limit. Liam Harris also showed poise with back-to-back strikeouts to send the game into extra innings.
The outcome summed up Castle’s overall season. So very close to knocking out a major team. The Knights (14-14) will be a major threat again next spring with seven starters back, headlined by Seidl.
“Seidl pitched his butt off,” Castle coach Curt Welch said. “Gave us everything he had. We were right there and had our opportunities. Kind of how our year has gone. We’ve been right there on the edge on all of these teams. It didn’t happen. It’s one we don’t like, but it is a life lesson.”
How this evening played out should be very familiar. North (25-4) rode a wave of strong pitching and timely hitting to Victory Field last year. Jones and Cranick both pointed to the extra-inning win over Center Grove as comparable to this performance. They would be correct.
North has the pitching to succeed in June. It has the experience to navigate tough situations. The blueprint is there again. Now onto the sectional championship.
“It’s just hard to beat a team that never quits,” Cranick said. “We always fight. We always find a way. Just put the ball in play and let them make a mistake. It turned out in our favor. We go put on best game on and take another sectional championship.”
Don’t overlook Reitz in the Class 4A sectional final
The other semifinal will get lost in the madness of the nightcap. It was still an entertaining game.
Reitz defeated Harrison 7-3 to earn the other spot in Monday’s championship. Also much closer than this score reads. The Panthers took a three-run advantage before giving up three in the fourth (Easton Jahn roped a two-run triple into the corner and scored on a wild pitch). Reitz finally broke free with four runs over the final two innings.
Most of the scoring opportunities came via gritty baseball. The Panthers (14-11) crossed home plate via ground balls, a squeeze bunt, a sacrifice fly, a wild pitch and multiple errors. Landon McCutchan had three of their 11 hits. What was the true separator was pitching. Carter Vincent struck out eight over four innings before getting pulled after 91 pitches. Cayden McGrew posted three scoreless with six punchouts to earn the victory.
“There were a lot of circus acts going on during that game,” Reitz coach Todd DeWeese said. “We put a lot of runners on base, put them in scoring position and tried to put pressure on their defense. Carter Vincent was lights out on the mound through four innings. Our pitchers did a good job not allowing extra runs on base.”
The result gives Reitz a third shot at North, who swept the regular season meetings by an aggregate score of 17-1. The Panthers last won the sectional title in 2015.
A pair of top-five teams survived to the championship round
The details were drastically different. We were still a handful of plays seeing a pair of major teams eliminated.
Start with the other candidate for game of the day. No. 4 Gibson Southern beat Vincennes Lincoln 1-0 at Alvin C. Ruxer Field in a nine-inning blockbuster to continue an already strong Sectional 31. Western Kentucky signee Jake Mazzier was at his best in a one-hit shutout and nine strikeouts. The senior went the distance on 107 pitches with the only hit allowed being a bunt single.
Justice Johnson was equally as good for Lincoln with seven strikeouts and five hits scattered across eight scoreless innings. The only run came via an odd sequence. Collin Higginbotham lofted a fly ball into right field with two outs and the bases loaded. A trio of Vincennes defenders couldn’t come up with the catch, allowing Kellen Lewis to score.
Gibson Southern faces Southridge, who beat Washington 5-3 in the second semifinal, on Monday.
The other top team who needed to sweat? No. 1 Mater Dei rallied to beat Forest Park 9-6 in Sectional 48. The Wildcats trailed after four innings but slowly chipped away, Max Miller (double) and Jackson Schaefer (sacrifice fly) leveled the score in the fifth. Miller took the lead with a two-run triple in the sixth. A walk and another sac fly padded the advantage in the seventh.
Darret Branson allowed one run and struck out four in 3 2/3 innigns of relief to avoid the upset. Mater Dei (26-3) gets North Posey in the final at South Spencer. The Vikings advanced with a 5-0 win over Perry Central behind a three-hit shutout by Brennan Reich.
What else caught our attention in the semifinals?
The four aforementioned games were only the beginning. A few final thoughts heading into championship Monday.
Kyle Sokeland is a sports reporter for the Courier & Press. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @kylesokeland or email at kyle.sokeland@courierpress.com.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Takeaways from IHSAA baseball sectional semifinals around Evansville
Reporting by Kyle Sokeland, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
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