PLYMOUTH – The top-ranked Class 4A Fishers Tigers kept their state championship aspirations alive with a mammoth four-run bottom of the first and clutch pitching from their dual aces to fend off No. 20 Chesterton 5-3 in the Plymouth Semistate on Saturday.

Known for their late-game resilience, the Tigers (28-7) flipped their routine and went to work early, leading Chesterton 5-0 after three innings while never trailing at Bill Nixon Field to secure the program’s first state finals berth.

Fishers (28-7) claimed its second straight sectional title on Memorial Day and added its first regional championship last Saturday at Loeb Stadium in Lafayette.

Fishers’ first-ever semistate title extended the team’s current winning streak to 10 consecutive entering this coming weekend’s IHSAA state finals at Victory Field in Indianapolis where they will clash with defending 4A state champion No. 18 Cathedral (23-8-1).

“I can’t wrap my head around it. Our players work so hard. Our coaches work so hard,” Fishers head coach Matthew Cherry remarked on his Tigers’ postseason run. “They wanted it. I don’t have the words. I’m so happy for our group. Proud for Fishers. Twelve years into it (since the school was re-established), and here we are going for a state title.”

Over the past two seasons, the Tigers have won 55 games and are one more win away from a potential baseball state title.

“I’m still shocked because I’ve never made it to a regional championship before, so winning that, I was kind of speechless,” said Fishers senior Grant Richardson, who transferred from Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger last summer. “Now, we’re actually doing this. We’re going to state and have a chance to win it all.”

Chesterton (18-8) did its best to derail the surging Tigers, but the Trojans, who snapped their 24-year regional drought, found themselves in a quick hole in the bottom of the first.

Fishers was able to pressure Trojans’ starter Austin Peterson, a Purdue recruit, from the onset with a leadoff walk by junior J.J. Woolwine, a Miami (Ohio) commit. A hit by pitch put senior Craig Yoho, a Houston signee, on base, and Richardson ignited the offense with a 2-2 count.

The Indiana recruit blasted a two-run double to the wall in right-center field, scoring both Woolwine and Yoho with no outs to stake a 2-0 lead.

A one-out RBI-single by senior Matthew Wolff, a Navy recruit, padded the margin 3-0 before a single by Huntington commit Alex Jamieson chased Peterson after only 1/3 of an inning pitched.

The right-handed Peterson carried a 6-1 record with 69 strikeouts in 48 innings along with a 0.58 ERA into the semistate championship, but he was lifted by coach Jack Campbell after surrendering three hits in six at-bats and putting five runners on base.

“After that they kind of sunk a little bit in their dugout. They weren’t yelling as much. You could tell their confidence was hurt a little bit after that, and we ate off that,” Yoho said. “We fed.”

The Tigers posted six hits in the game overall and had three extra-base hits, including a towering solo home run by Jamieson that ricocheted off the scoreboard past the left-field wall in the bottom of the third.

Jamieson’s blast was his sixth on the season and pushed his team-leading RBI total to 40 in 112 at-bats. He finished the game 2-for-3. He has 13 doubles this year and 36 hits in 129 plate appearances.

“He’s a kid that played quite a bit as a sophomore and didn’t play last year, which was mostly my fault, but never complained. He’s a great teammate, and here he is leading our team in home runs and RBIs,” Cherry said. “I can’t say enough about him. And almost all his hits are huge doubles or home runs in key situations.”

Every run proved crucial for the Tigers, who were stymied after senior Chris Torres took over for Peterson in the bottom of the first.

The Trojans’ first of two relievers limited Fishers to three hits over 3 2/3 innings with three strikeouts and a walk.

The Wabash Valley Junior College recruit gave up a one-out RBI-single to sophomore Nick Lukac in the bottom of the first that put Fishers ahead 4-0.

“We knew we were going to have a day. Once that big hit came from Grant, we knew we were winning this one. Going to state,” Jamieson said. “It just motivated everybody. It really got us going, knowing we had each others’ backs. We were all going to fight. We were all in it together.”

Torres ended the onslaught with a double-play grounder to second base, and other than Jamieson’s bomb, the right-hander permitted just one more runner to reach scoring position.

Steve Gilbertson closed out the final two innings for Chesterton, retiring six straight with two strikeouts, three pop ups and a ground ball.

“We knew they had three arms, and we saw all three of them,” Cherry said. “Torres came in and did a great job of keeping us off balance. The lefty kept us guessing. Obviously, getting to their bullpen and knocking one of them out is huge, but we knew we still had to battle, and they did.”

Senior right-hander Luke Albright, a Kent State recruit, earned the win for Fishers to improve to 8-2, but he had to work out of two bases-loaded jams and had to overcome four of Fishers’ five charged errors.

After hitting senior Tommy Benson with one out in the top of the first, a throwing error put two runners on prior to a two-out single by Purdue recruit Grant Brunt.

Albright induced an inning-ending pop up to center field to escape unscathed.

Chesterton loaded the bases in the top of the second behind a pair of one-out singles and a controversial two-out catcher’s interference call.

Benson lined a two-run single to center field that initially scored sophomore Tyler Nelson from third base and senior Brett Roeske from second, but he was eventually only awarded first base due to a debated dead ball ruling.

The shortstop’s bat grazed catcher Kiel Brenczewski’s glove as he swung, stopping the play as the home plate umpire signaled the ball dead before the runners scored. Both base runners were instructed to retreat. Campbell didn’t protest the call, though Benson contested the ruling briefly before taking first base.

“His bat hit my glove, and he called dead ball from the start,” Brenczewski said.

Albright left all three runners stranded in the next at-bat by inducing a grounder to the mound for the putout at first base. He retired seven straight hitters after the ruling wiped a prospective 4-2 margin.

“You can’t stress, just manage it. There’s no other way to put it,” Albright said. “When things don’t go your way, it’s the best time to take a step back and breathe. We’ve been preaching that all year. If we focus and lock in, we’ll take care of it. We’re good enough to get out of these things. We’re good enough to get out of jams. We’re good enough to just turn around and punch them back in the mouth.”

Albright went five innings with five strikeouts, a walk, a hit batter and four hits allowed.

The Trojans tacked on two hits and two runs against him in the top of the fifth to trim the deficit 5-2 behind two errors and an RBI-sacrifice fly by Chris Van Eekern.

“That’s what Chesterton does. They’re a great ball club. Their coach does a great job with them. We knew they were going to put pressure on us. They hit-and-run a ton,” Cherry said. “So we knew it was going to be a battle. But yeah, the errors didn’t help.”

Richardson, who picked up the save in relief, took over for Albright in the top of the sixth. At 5-0 on the season as a starter, Richardson increased his strikeout total to 75 in 41 2/3 innings. He didn’t issue a single walk but gave up four hits.

“We had Grant in our back pocket, so we decided to make the move. That’s a hard move to make because Luke is the guy that’s worked for us the last three years,” Cherry said. “But it was the right move. He had worked really hard with the bases loaded a couple of times, and we didn’t want to see the top of their lineup for a fourth time.”

The Trojans scored their final run in the sixth on a low throw from Richardson to first base with two outs, brining Nelson in from third base.

Richardson regrouped and closed the inning with a strikeout and runners on third and second.

“We were still up two runs, so I wasn’t too worried,” Richardson said. “I just kept leaving the ball over the plate, and they just kept hitting it, so if you don’t want them to hit it, don’t put it there.”

Chesterton made one last push in the top of the seventh, stringing together back-to-back singles before Richardson struck out Logan Lawson and got Nelson to hit a soft grounder that Brenczewski threw to first base for the final out.

Benson ended the game 2-for-3 with a run scored and Nelson was 2-for-4 with a double. Chesterton had eight hits total but left 11 runners on base compared to Fishers five.

“This team is something special. We have something special brewing. We knew that from Day 1, and it’s coming. We still have one more,” Albright said. “We truly believe. That was our goal from Day 1 to win a state championship. We don’t care how we got here. We don’t care if we have to win games in extra innings or whatever, we were going to do it. We are going to find a way to do it.”

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