By Steve Krah
PBR Indiana Correspondent 

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KOKOMO — Big innings in the batter’s box allowed Western the chance to play on the big stage. 

By scoring five runs in the second inning and four in the third frame Saturday, June 11, the Panthers got off to a strong start on the way beating Delta 15-4 to take the IHSAA Class 3A Kokomo Semistate baseball state title and earn a berth in the State Finals at Victory Field in Indianapolis for the first time since hoisting the state trophy in 2012. 

Western (15-12) will take on Northview (24-6). The IHSAA will set the schedule for next weekend’s four class title games (oneFriday and three Saturday). 

Quentin Brown, in his third year as Panthers head coach after serving as assistant in 2012 and 2013, sang the praises of his squad. 

“This is one of the most talented groups I’ve ever coach and been blessed and fortunate to coach some talented groups,” Brown said. “I told them before the year that this is something that is a very good possibility. 

“A lot of people looked at me weird and I thought I was crazy. But I believed in them when a lot of people didn’t. Now that we’re here, it is what it is. I knew that this group had a lot of talent and could do a lot of great things. 

“I’m happy that we’re firing on all cylinders right now.” 

Senior right-hander Dalton Leighty (win, 9-2; 7 innings, 4 runs, 7 hits, 6 strikeouts, 0 walks) was dominant early while getting plenty of run support from his teammates, who scored at least one run in every inning but the first while piling up 17 hits off four Delta right-handers (senior Arian Coffey and juniors Andrew Shafer, Adam Haynes and Jake Van Pelt). 

“It’s our approach and our mentality,” Brown said. “We’ve worked on it all year. We want to hit the fastballs consistently and we’ll work on the breaking ball after that. It’s been coming together here at the end of the season. Hopefully, we continue to stay hot like this.” 

Junior Luke Florek’s first-pitch grand slam home run onto the berm beyond the 348-feet sign in left-center field highlighted a five-run eruption in the second inning for for designated visiting team Western. 

Scoring ahead of Florek was courtesy runner junior Kolten Gifford (spelling junior Tyler Burthay who walked), sophomore Cooper O’Neal (who had an RBI double to plate sophomore Pat Mills) and senior Jacob Douglass (who walked) 

The Panthers rapped five hits the four-run third inning. Driving in runs were junior Brodee Lipinski (sacrifice fly), Burhay (single), O’Neal (double) and junior Brayden DeWeese (bases-loaded walk). 

A defensive gem was turned in by Delta left fielder Van Pelt in the fourth inning when he dove to take a hit away from junior Adysin Coffey. 

Western went ahead 10-0 with one run in the fourth inning. 

Mills reached base on an error, moved to third on Lipinski’s one-out single and scored on Burhay’s pop to the second baseman in shallow right field. 

The Eagles erased the shutout with one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. 

Arian Coffey cracked a lead-off double to left and scored on an error. 

The Panthers’ lead went to 12-1 with two runs in the fifth inning. 

Florek was hit by a pitch from right-hander Van Pelt, stole second and scored on DeWeese’s single to left. 

DeWeese eventually scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Mills. 

Three straight doubles with two outs — senior Austin Haynes and Mitchell Hahn and Aryan Coffey — by the Eagles helped them stay alive while scoring two runs in the fifth inning by make the score 12-3. 

Pinch-hitter Hayes popped his two-bagger toward right and junior pinch runner Charlie May scored on Aryan Coffey’s double to left. Hahn was plated by Coffey’s double to center. 

Western got one run back in the sixth inning. 

O’Neal reached base on a fielder’s choice and was driven home by a single to center by Douglass. 

The Eagles warded off the mercy rule again with one run in the sixth inning. 

Senior Adam Paschal led off with an infield single and scored on a two-out single to right by junior Tanner Lambert. 

“They really didn’t want it to end,” Delta coach Seth Paul said. “That showed our mantra of never giving up. We’re down 10 runs at the semistate, how easy would it be to say let’s just get out of here? We just kept scraping and scraping and scraping. We made it to the bottom of the seventh and delayed the (Western) celebration for as long as we could.” 

Western tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning. 

Junior Kaleb Howard lashed a lead-off triple to right and scored on Mills’ single to center. 

Lipinski singled home the 15th run. 

Delta (20-9) found itself in the semistate for the first time since 2009. Paul said this season can be the first step in a culture change for the program. 

“I’m so proud of what we’ve done this year,” Paul said. “I feel like we’ve taken a huge step forward.  

“This was good for our community to get excited about baseball.”