Prep Baseball Report

2A State Championship: Boone Grove Holds on to Win Title


Rich Torres
PBR Indiana Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS -- Bryce Morris didn't know what to expect, but the Boone Grove senior knew exactly what to do once his number was called in relief on Saturday. 

Watching from right field as Southridge rallied in the bottom of the seventh during the Class 2A state championship game, Morris took the mound with two outs and finished what Indiana recruit Ty Bothwell started. 

The right-handed reliever loaded the bases with a walk, and then he locked down Boone Grove's 5-4 win with a pop-up third out at Victory Field to secure the school's first state championship. 

"I had no idea I was going to come in," Morris remarked after he halted the Raiders' late four-run charge. "But I had to close it out." 

Up until the final inning, Boone Grove was in complete control behind Bothwell. The senior lefty struck out 12 batters overall and limited Southridge to three hits and no runs prior to a two-out swing sparked by a dropped ball error in left field. 

Southridge put two runners on base with lead-off single by Joe LaGrange and a two-out walk by Camden Gasser. Bothwell worked Colin Smith into a 1-2 count and induced a routine fly to the outfield, but Dylan Paul misplayed it and the ball fell out of his glove.

The error scored a pair of runs to slice Boone Grove's lead 5-2 and extended the inning. Southridge sent 10 batters to the plate and after a two-run, two-out single by Chase Taylor that trimmed the margin 5-4, Wolves first-year head coach Pat Antone had no choice but to pull his ace. 

Bothwell reached 122 pitches after Taylor's bases-loaded hit, the pitcher's lone blemish this postseason. Bothwell kept the opposition scoreless throughout the postseason while scattering seven hits entering the state title game. 

He had 42 strikeouts in three postseason starts beforehand and increased his total to 54 after Saturday, which marked his fourth playoff appearance. In four state tournament games Bothwell wasn't charged with a single earned run and pushed his season-strikeout tally to 170 in 75 2/3 innings. 

This season, Bothwell tossed two perfect games and five no-hitters. 

"The only reason we pulled him out was because he was at 120," Antone said. "If he wasn't, then he wasn't coming out." 

Bothwell didn't want to hand the ball over either, but it wasn't the first time, and he had complete faith in Morris. During Boone Grove's 1-0 win in 10 innings in the Whiting Regional finals over No. 2 South Adams, Morris picked up the save. 

"I wasn't thrilled about being pulled, but you have to go with the coach's decision," Bothwell said. "I trust him, they trust me, and I trust Morris. That dude couldn't have done a better job out there. He scared me a little bit with that walk, but I believe in him 100 percent." 

The Wolves' belief in each other helped them take down No. 1 Lafayette Central Catholic 1-0 at the Plymouth Semistate. Boone Grove rode one hit and 12 strikeouts by Bothwell to their fifth straight win. 

Victory No. 6 was a testament to their chemistry, Antone said, with their lead nearly toppled and the bases loaded four times in the final two innings. 

"You just have battle. Errors happen. You just have to pick them up and make sure they make the next one," Morris said. "But, dude, I was so nervous." 

LaGrange flied out to shallow left field for the final out in Boone Grove's first state championship game appearance and second state finals berth since 2000. 

The Wolves (22-5) were locked in a pitcher's duel with the Raiders (25-7) until the top of the fifth. Unable to get to Southridge starter Logan Seger, who carried an 11-0 record and 1.28 ERA, Boone Grove finally broke through with four hits. They finished with six overall. 

Seger was lifted in the fifth. He went 4 1/3 innings and struck out four with three walks and four hits allowed. 

"We played pretty well early. We threw the ball pretty well. We had some really good at-bats. But that one inning got away from us. We made some uncharacteristic mistakes defensively. We threw it around the yard and for a period of time it looked like we didn’t belong here," Southridge head coach Gene Mattingly said. "When they put a four-spot up with a pitcher like that on the mound, it’s kind of hard to come back from." 

A walk by Morris opened the top of the fifth before Taylor Piazza drove him in with an RBI double. Austin LeMar connected with an RBI single to score Piazza and a failed pickoff attempt at second base allowed Elijah Covington to come home from third base and padded the lead 3-0. 

Bothwell made it 4-0 with a one-out RBI single. However, Paul supplied the decisive run in the top of the sixth as he scored on a throwing error after reaching base with a leadoff walk and advancing with a LeMar single and a stolen base. 

Once Paul committed a potentially costly error in the seventh, his teammates backed him up. 

"At the end, I was just glad because (Dylan) was super hyped up,"

Morris said. "He gave me a hug and said he loved me multiple times. It made me feel great. I loved every second of it." 

Last season, Boone Grove finished the year 13-9. This year, they claimed its 13th sectional title and third in six years. The Wolves regional was their seventh all time and first since 2007-08. 

Southridge seized its first regional and semistate championship en route to state. The Raiders won the program's fourth sectional overall and first since 2013-14 in 3A. 

Raiders' Justin Lammers was named the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award winner for 2A. He went 1-for-1 as pinch-hitter with a single to initiate Southridge's four-run seventh. 

"I'm just really happy for our group of guys that we have because they've made a lot of sacrifices and put in a lot of work and time.

Now, they're reaping the benefits of it," Antone said. "I'm just really happy for them."