Prep Baseball Report

North Central Wins County Title, Cathedral Claims City Crown at Victory Field





By Pete Cava

PBR Indiana Correspondent 



INDIANAPOLIS –
With the Indianapolis Indians on the road in Syracuse, N.Y., on Friday, Victory Field hosted championship games for Marion County and the city of Indianapolis. 

In the first contest, Phil McIntyre's North Central Panthers squared off against Jeremy Sassanella's 3A No. 7 Brebeuf Jesuit Braves for the County title.

The nightcap saw 4A No. 3 Cathedral, coached by Rich Andriole, go against Dan Ambrose's Heritage Christian Eagles. 

Attendance for the twin bill was 1,671.  But attendance figures notwithstanding, the chance to perform in an International League ballpark was a huge thrill for players from each of the four schools. 

“I know there's not 10,000 people here right now watching us play,” said Cathedral's Andriole. “Just to be here, even if there are only 50 people here, you've got the skyline of downtown.  This is a big stage.” 

NORTH CENTRAL 6, BREBEUF JESUIT 4 (8 INNINGS): The Panthers scored twice in the top of the eighth to upend the Braves in a seesaw battle. 

“It was incredible! We grinded out,” said Phil McIntyre, North Central’s skipper. “It's not over 'til the last out, you can see that. I'm so proud of my boys. It was a total team effort.”

The Panthers (11-10-1) pecked out a run in the top of the first inning against Brebeuf Jesuit starter Will Wentz. The Braves junior right-hander nicked the first two North Central batters, A.J. Shuder and Al Lozer. When Roy Thurman III bunted safely, the Panthers had the bases loaded with no outs. Allbry Major followed with a single to short that scored Shuder. Wentz fanned the next batter and got out of the fix with a second-to-short-to-first double play. 

After breezing through the first two frames, North Central starter Alan Lozer ran into trouble in the bottom of the third. Lozer hit leadoff batter Michael Hogan, who took second on Nick Bolander's sacrifice. Shaine Mitchell bunted for a base hit to put runners at the corners for Brebeuf Jesuit, and a walk to Jake Scott filled the bases. Leo Watson drew a base on balls that brought in Hogan with the tying run. When Justin Hensley grounded into a force play at second, Mitchell raced home to put the Braves in front 2-1. 

Brebeuf Jesuit (17-5) made it 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth. Scott led off with a hit to right and Hensley followed with an infield single. Scott moved to third on a wild pitch and rode in on Bo Richey's sacrifice fly. 

Wentz settled down after the shaky start, holding North Central scoreless through the fifth. 

When Roy Thurman III led off the top of the sixth with a single, Wentz gave way to junior lefty John Nierman. Thurman stole second with Major batting, and when Allbry grounded to short, the throw to first was high and North Central had runners at first and second with nobody out. 

Josh Wooten followed with a bunt that was misplayed for an error, loading the bases for the Panthers. Thurman scored on a double play, narrowing the deficit to 3-2. Blake Juerling entered the game as a pinch-hitter and came through with a single to center that plated Major with the tying run. 

North Central pulled ahead in the top of the seventh. Shuder blooped a one-out single and was forced at second by Lozer. After a walk to Thurman, Major laced a single up the middle that drove in Lozer for a 4-3 North Central lead. 

Three outs away from defeat in the bottom of the seventh, Brebeuf Jesuit refused to quit. With one away, Watson reached first on an error and stole second. Lozer fanned the next batter for the second out, but Richey followed with a base hit to center that scored Watson to knot the score. Richey took second on the throw home, and North Central intentionally walked Jackson Williams. Lozer got the final out when Jeff McGowen lined to center. 

With the game in extra innings, North Central went right to work. Travis Finchum opened the top of the eighth with a walk off Ben Balogh, the third Brebeuf Jesuit pitcher. Tommy Cagnassola followed with a bunt that was booted for an error, and both runners advanced on Sam Behrmann's sacrifice. Shuder followed with a wicked grounder that skipped through the Brebeuf Jesuit first baseman's legs. Jacob Snider, running for Finchum, scooted home with the lead run, with Cagnassola right behind him. 

Lozer allowed a single by Bolander in the bottom of the eighth before closing out the two hour, 40-minute contest. He allowed seven hits while allowing five walks and striking out four. 

Lozer, a 6-foot, 165-pound DePaul commit, avenged a loss in the 2014 County Championships. “He was here two years ago on the mound against Brebeuf as a sophomore,” said McIntyure. “You could just tell, he wanted it (tonight) so bad. DePaul's got a wonderful guy coming their way.” 

McIntyre also praised the Braves after the tough loss. “They've got a wonderful team over there,” he said, gesturing to the Brebeuf Jesuit dugout. “They're gonna do some real damage in their sectional.” 

CATHEDRAL 10, HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 1: Sparked by Nick Eaton's pitching and a relentless offense, the Irish (19-3) pounded the Eagles (10-5) in the City Championship contest. 

Heritage Christian sent senior righty Luke Webb to the mound against Eaton, Cathedral's junior southpaw. 

The Eagles jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Austin Crouse slapped a two-out double to left center and scored when Webb looped a single that barely eluded the glove of Cathedral second baseman Jared Poland. 

Cathedral pulled ahead in the bottom of the second. Anthony Oeding led off with a bunt single and went to second on a throwing error. Oeding took third on Charlie Gomez's sacrifice bunt and scored when Conner Mullin beat out an infield single. 

One out later, Brantley Johnson sent a grounder up the middle. Heritage Christian shortstop Jadon Ambrose dove for the ball and kept it from going through, but had no chance to nail the speedy Johnson at first. Mullin took third on the play and alertly kept going to put the Irish in front 2-1. 

Cathedral struck again in the third. After a walk to Poland and Eaton's single, Nick Andriole was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Poland scored when Oeding smacked a single to right to extend the Irish lead to 3-1. 

In the bottom of the fourth, Cathedral broke open the contest with a four-run outburst. Webb came out after Brantley Johnson drew a leadoff walk for the Irish. Grant Paris, a junior right-hander, took the mound for Heritage Christian with Webb moving to center field. 

The next Cathedral batter, Erik Drehs, pushed up Johnson with a sac bunt. Heritage Christian gave Poland an intentional pass to put runners at first and second for the Irish. On a full count, Eaton walked to load the bases. Nick Andriole's base hit scored two runs and Oeding's single made it 6-1. 

Gomez followed with a long fly ball that bounced off the Heritage Christian left fielder's glove for a base hit. Gomez passed Oeding on the play and was declared out, but Andriole scored for a 7-1 Irish lead. 

Junior Austin Crouse, the third Eagles pitcher, moved over from third base and recorded the final out on a fly to left. 

The Irish added another in the fifth when Grant Spicer led off with a single, went to second on a balk, and rode home on Brantley Johnson's hit. On the throw home, Johnson was out trying for second. 

Heritage Christian went to its pen once more, and sophomore right-hander Quinn Cobb entered the game. Cobb walked Drehs, and Poland followed with a towering drive to left-center that landed for a triple. Drehs scored, and when Eaton followed with a sac fly, the Irish were up 10-1. 

Cathedral's Eaton lasted six and one-third innings, scattering five hits while walking one and striking out eight. He helped his own cause with a pair of hits, a walk, a sac fly and a run batted in. “I think tonight's his sixth win. He's 6-and-0,” said Rich Andriole. “He's done a super job for a kid that's a junior in high school. I thought he was pretty sharp tonight.” 

Trey Craig came on in relief for the Irish, and the senior right-hander retired all four batters he faced. 

Will Conway came in to pitch in the seventh. The senior lefty walked the first man he faced, then got the next hitter on a grounder to first to close out the two-hour, ten minute affair. 

Oeding, Cathedral's designated hitter, led a 16-hit Irish assault with a 4-for-4 performance. “He's done a great job, and you hope that seniors step up like that and have the kind of year that he's had,” added Andriole. “That's sort of a microcosm of what he's done for us lately.”  

Pete Cava is the author of Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players:  A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014, now available from McFarland Publishers