ELKHART — Goshen shook off an early deficit and beat Elkhart Memorial 6-2 Wednesday, May 22 in the first game of IHSAA Class 4A Elkhart Sectional.

Playing as the designated home team on Memorial’s Charger Field, Goshen fell behind 2-0 in the first inning then plated four runs in the fifth inning and two in the sixth to advance to the semfinals to meet No. 4-ranked Penn at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 25.

The sectional resumes Thursday, 23 with Elkhart Central taking on Northridge at 5 p.m., followed by Warsaw against Concord. Thursday’s winners will meet in Saturday’s second semifinal. The championship is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday, May 27.

Sophomore Reece Fisher (two doubles) and senior Braxton Kincaid (one double) both rapped three hits for Goshen Wednesday. Fisher scored a pair of runs.

Senior right-hander Austin Cain was the winning pitcher, working six innings and giving up four hits and two runs with five walks and seven strikeouts over 113 pitches. Junior right-hander Skylar Reyes retired
the side in order in the seventh and picked up the save.

Sophomore right-hander Drew Pressler pitched 4 1/3 innings and gave up five hits, four runs (three earned) with three walks and two strikeouts over 82 pitches before being relieved by senior right-hander Mike McQueen (1 1/3 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts).

Sophomore Dylan Rost socked his second home run of the season in the first inning for Memorial. He smacked a 1-0 fastball from Cain over the left field fence. Sophomore Collin Baer was on base with a one-out single to left.

In the RedHawks fifth, the bases were loaded when Skylar Reyes reached on an error, Fisher singled to left and Jack Immel drew a walk.

A sacrifice fly to center plated Skylar Reyes. A single to left by Kincaid drove in Fisher.

Two runs (Immel and Kincaid) scored on an error on a ball put in play by senior Drew Marlow.

Skylar Reyes opened the Goshen sixth with a single to right and scored on Fisher’s double to center.

Fisher scored on a two-out single to center by Dominick Reyes.

“We’ve been a streaky-hitting team,” said RedHawks coach J.J. DuBois. “When we string a few (hits) together, it just brings a life to our dugout that takes us to the next level. “You can’t fake that enthusiasm. Once we strung a couple together, we knew we could bunt and put some pressure on them.”

It was the third loss to Goshen in 2019 for Memorial, including two in Northern Lakes Conference play.

“We barreled a lot of baseballs and we hit some right at them,” said Chargers coach Scott Rost. “Early, we swung it well. (Cain) started mixing in his curveball a little bit. “The walks and hits we had, we didn’t do a great job of stringing them together. But, at the same time, we’ve got to barrel more bats than
that and do a better job offensively. Usually, if we get going early we relax and start putting runs on the board. Today, that didn’t happen.”

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