INDIANAPOLIS – Two of the state's top 10 Class 2A teams came to Park Tudor School for Saturday's Regional tournament.  Only one advanced to the championship game. 

And by day’s end, the last team standing was the only one with a sub-.500 record. 

The action started out under overcast skies, which cleared up by the start of the second contest. The weather was hot and humid. 

#2 SOUTH VERMILLION 8, COVENANT CHRISTIAN 1:  Senior right-hander Matthew Panagouleas scattered six hits and knocked in a pair of runs to send the Wildcats to the championship game. 

Caleb Panagouleas, the Wildcats' fourth-year third baseman, backed his cousin's pitching with a perfect day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a double and three runs batted in. 

Covenant Christian (13-15) mounted an early threat.  The Warriors loaded the bases with two out in the top of the first on Conner Krizan's single, an infield hit by Darien Pugh and an infield error.  Matthew Panagouleas quashed the threat, however, getting the next batter on a fly to right. 

The Wildcats (27-3) put three runs on the board in their first at-bat.  Conner VanLannen and Bryce McLeish opened the frame with consecutive walks off Krizan, Covenant Christian's senior righty.  hen Cooper Terry's grounder was misplayed for an error, South Vermillion had the bases loaded.  Caleb Panagouleas followed with a double to right-center that plated two runs.  Layne Vicars' sacrifice fly gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead. 

Covenant Christian picked up its run in the top of the second.  Nick Wilson and Blane Bradford opened with singles and advanced on Jake Brackett's sacrifice.  Wilson came home when on Brennan Moran’s ground out to short. 

South Vermillion struck again in the fourth. With one away, Matthew Panagouleas was safe on an error and took second on a passed ball. Caleb Panagouleas followed with an RBI single that extended the Wildcat lead to 4-1. 

South Vermillion's three-run fourth inning ended Krizan's outing.  With two out, McLeish drew a walk and went to third on Terry's single to right. Terry took second on the throw in, and Matthew Panagouleas followed with a rope down the right field line that brought in two more runs.  Krizan nicked the next batter, Caleb Panagouleas.  When Vicars followed with a run-scoring single, that was all for Krizan.  Darien Pugh moved from second base to the mound to get the final out of the inning. 

South Vermillion's final run came in the sixth.  Terry led off with a hit and advanced on a stolen base and a wild pitch.  Caleb Panagouleas brought him in with a single to left. 

Matthew Panagouleas relied mainly on a two-seam fastball and his curve to handcuff Covenant Christian.  “I went with knuckleballs a lot the last couple of innings,” he said.  “I only struck out one, so that means everybody else made the plays for me.  It was a pretty good all-around game for us.” 

The game lasted an hour and 41 minutes. 

SCECINA MEMORIAL 2, #6 UNION COUNTY 0:  Crusaders senior left-hander Anthony Mitchell and Joey Weller, the Patriots' fourth-year righty, hooked up in a tense pitching duel that wasn't decided until the final out. 

Mitchell came out on top, doling out four hits in six-plus innings, with relief help from Mac Ayres, a senior right-hander who came on in relief in the seventh. 

Scecina (13-15-1) went to work immediately against Weller.  With one out in the first, the Crusaders had runners on first and second after infield hits by Mitchell and Drew Lowery.  Ayres, Scecina's cleanup hitter, followed with a line single to right that plated Mitchell and sent Lowery to third.  A sacrifice fly by Tahj Reeves made it 3-0. 

After that, Mitchell and Weller traded blanks.  Weller didn't allow another hit until the sixth inning. 

Union County (27-4) had a scoring opportunity with runners on first and second in the bottom of the fifth.  With one out, Leighton Schulte drew a walk and took second on a wild pitch.  Schulte stayed put when Preston Scott got aboard on a misplayed grounder to third.  Mitchell got Justin Witter to pop up for the second out.  Mook Shepler, the next Patriot batter, drilled a grounder between first and second.  Scecina first baseman Sebastian Martinez made a diving stop, then threw to Mitchell covering the bag for the final out. 

In the sixth, Union County threatened again with two out after walks to Mason Miller and Jacob Stansberry. Mitchell reached back for something extra, however, and fired a strike past the next batter. 

Down to its last three outs, Union County took heart when Schulte opened the top of the seventh with a base on balls, the fifth issued by Mitchell. That's when Dave Gandolph, the Crusaders Hall-of-Fame skipper, ambled out of the dugout and brought in Ayres from right.  He also moved Owen Begley from center to replace Ayres and dispatched Mitchell to center field.

The first batter Ayres faced was Scott, the Patriots leadoff man, who grounded to short. When the ball was bobbled for an error, Union County had the tying run aboard with nobody out.  Ayres retired the next three men to close out the contest in an hour and 50 minutes. 

“I trusted Mac. I knew he would come in and get the job done,” said the 5-foot-8, 140-pound Mitchell, who employed fastballs early and curved late in the count.  “He's been doing it all year.  I knew he was gonna do it.” 

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – SCECINA MEMORIAL 7, #2 SOUTH VERMILLION 6:  Owen Begley stood outside the first base dugout wearing the stunned look of a man who’s just hit the lottery.  “I can’t believe it!  I have no idea what’s happened,” blurted the Crusaders sophomore.  “I’m just glad our team won and pulled it together at the end.”       

Moments earlier, Begley had delivered a walk-off single that made him the winning pitcher in the game that clinched a berth for Scecina Memorial in next Saturday’s Semi-state round at either Plainfield or Jasper.  

The Crusaders (14-15-1) entered the Park Tudor Regional as the only team with a losing record.  “We got our act together at the end of the year,” said coach Dave Gandolph.  “We played a tough schedule.  We played at least eight former sectional champions, six or seven former state champions, and eight teams that were sectional champions this year.  And I think that got us prepared for a battle out here, which is what we had.”   

South Vermillion (27-4) scored a run in the top of the first, capitalizing on a Scecina error.  Batting against Mac Ayres, who got the save for the Crusaders in their first game, Conner VanLannen reached base on an infield error.  VanLannen then stole second and took third on Bryce McLeish's fly to right.  Cooper Terry followed with a ground single that brought in VanLannen.  

Scecina pulled ahead in the bottom of the frame, aided by a Wildcat miscue.  Leadoff hitter Eli Phillips got things rolling for the Crusaders with an infield hit off South Vermillion starter Cooper Terry.  Anthony Mitchell followed with a slow roller toward third and beat the throw to first, which sailed wide of the base and allowed both runners to advance.  When Drew Lowery followed with a fly ball to right, Phillips came home with the tying run.  Tahj Reeves then singled home Mitchell for a 2-1 Scecina advantage. 

In the bottom of the second, VanLannen moved from short to the hill to replace Terry, who faced just seven batters.   

South Vermilion made it 2-all in the top of the third, this time with the help of two Scecina boots.  VanLannen walked and stole second.  When the throw to second was wild, VanLannen took third.  Another errant toss from center sent him home with the Wildcats' second run. 

Scecina regained the lead in the third with a Believe-It-Or-Not play.  Lowery opened the inning with a single and took second on Ayres' rope to center.  Reeves followed with a bunt, which VanLannen pounced on fired to third for the out.  The throw to first on a double play attempt went for an error, and Ayres scampered home to make it 3-2.  Reeves, trying for third on the play, was gunned down by South Vermillion catcher Bryce McLeish for an unorthodox pitcher-to-third-to-home-to-third double play, sandwiched around the error. 

The Wildcats went up 5-3 in the fourth without the benefit of a hit.  South Vermillion loaded the bases when Layne Vicars walked, Isaac Wanninger got hit by a pitch and Hayden Boatman drew a base on balls.  Spencer Lewis’s sac fly plated one run and on a double steal, Wanninger flew home as Boatman swiped second.  After VanLannen was hit by a pitch, a pair of Scecina throwing errors on McLeish's grounder sent VanLannen home to give the Wildcats a two-run advantage. 

Scecina knotted the score at 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth.  Mitchell and Lowery singled and advanced on a wild pitch.  Ayres’ single to center plated Mitchell and sent Lowery to third.  Reeves drove in Lowery with a sac fly to center. 

Ayres came out in the sixth after an error, a hit batter and a fielder’s choice gave South Vermillion runners at the corners with two out.  Begley, who opened the game in right field, traded places with Ayres.  The southpaw fanned the next batter to end the inning. 

After VanLannen pitched a three-up, three-down bottom of the sixth, Matthew Panagouleas opened the top of the seventh with a double to center. Panagouleas took third on a fly out to center by Caleb Panagouleas.  With Scecina’s infield drawn in, Vicars grounded to Eli Phillips at short. Phillips looked the runner back and fired to first to retire Vicars.  When Wanninger followed with an infield single, Panagouleas raced home to give South Vermillion a 6-5 lead. 

Panagouleas, the winning pitcher for the Wildcats in the opener, came on to pitch in the bottom of the seventh looking for a save.  Phillips led off against the burly right-hander with a walk and advanced on Mitchell’s bunt sacrifice.  Lowery followed with a ground single that brought in Phillips with the tying run.  

Ayres followed with a grounder to short, and a throwing error gave Scecina runners at first and third with one out.  South Vermillion coach Tim Terry ordered an intentional walk to Reeves that loaded the bases.  

Begley followed with a single to left-center that brought in Phillips with the winning run.  “It was a fastball straight down the middle,” said the left-handed hitter.  “I took it the other way.  I was in shock.  I was amazed.  I can’t believe it.” 

“He’s more than capable,” said Coach Gandolph.  “He’s got a lot of hits for us this year.  Lately he hasn’t, but that was a big one.  That’s what I told him when he went up there:  ‘Win it for yourself!  Let’s go!’”     

The two-hour and 10-minute contest saw nine errors, six by Scecina and three by South Vermillion.  Five Crusaders had multi-hit games – three for Lowery and two apiece from Phillips, Mitchell, Ayres and Begley.  The Wildcats managed only four hits.  

“That was a fun one,” said Coach Gandolph, a 1968 Scecina graduate whose résumé includes 700-plus career wins.  “We lost our composure a little bit in that one inning when we gave up three.  But the big key was, we got it back.  And Max (Ayres) started it out there on the mound.  He got himself back together.  And that got us all together.” 

South Vermillion's three previous losses this year were to Terre Haute North, Terre Haute South, and Paris (Ill.).  

Pete Cava is the author of “Tales From the Cubs Dugout” and “Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players:  A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014.”

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