By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana Correspondent  

ZIONSVILLE – On a raw, blustery night better suited for football than baseball, Hamilton Southeastern and Carmel clubbed their way into Monday's semifinal round of Class 4A Sectional 8 at Zionsville High School.

Sectional play continues Monday with Noblesville (which drew a first-round bye) taking on North Central in the first semi at 11:00 a.m., while Hamilton SE plays Carmel at 1:30.

The winners meet for the sectional title at 7:00 p.m.

HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 2, WESTFIELD 1 (9 INNINGS): Junior center fielder Tre Gantt, the Royals three-hole hitter, accounted for both runs with a pair of homers as HSE nipped the Shamrocks in extra innings.

With a stiff wind blowing out to right-center on a night made for power hitters, HSE’s Nathan Upchurch and Westfield right-hander Luke Dietz engaged in a mound duel through the first three innings.

Upchurch, the burly 6-2, 215 senior southpaw, retired the first nine Westfield batters before Chase Shaw led off the bottom of the seventh with a single.  Nathan Manworren followed with a bunt sacrifice, and Upchurch's throw to first was in the dirt.  Manworren was safe and Shaw took third.  When Bailey Partlow sliced a double to left, Westfield had a 1-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Shamrocks starter Luke Dietz breezed through the first five frames. After giving up a first-inning single to Mitch Roman, the right-hander sat down twelve straight HSE batters.

The Royals (18-11) evened the score with two out in the top of the sixth when Gantt slammed the first pitch he saw over the right field fence.

Westfield squandered an opportunity in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Cole McCrary singled and took second on a wild pitch. After a walk to Alec Nelson, Matt Kinney hit into a force play to put runners at the corners with two out. Upchurch ended the threat by whiffing Jacob Robinson.

Right-hander Steven Curry, who started the contest as HSE's DH, took over for Upchurch in the eighth. The Wabash signee struck out the first two batters he faced before Manworren beat out an infield hit and reached second on a throwing error. Curry fanned Partlow to get out of the jam.

Gantt struck again in the top of the ninth. With a 1-1 count, Dietz threw an offspeed pitch that the left-handed hitter lifted over the right-field wall.   “It felt like a dream, rounding the bases two times in one game,” said Gantt.  “I knew the first one was gone off the bat.   The second one, I was a little iffy about it.   For a second, I thought it might be a pop-up.  But the wind was blowing out, so I was pretty sure it was gone.” 

In the bottom of the ninth, McCrary rekindled Westfield's hopes with a one-out double that sailed over Gantt's head in center.  “I thought it was hit right at me,” said Gantt, “but then I paused for a second, and the wind took it behind me.  It just kept going.”   

Curry sealed the win by retiring the next two batters. “We’ve been working all season for this day,” said Curry, “and we came out and executed.  I just went out there and threw.  I had confidence my teammates would back me up, and just tried my hardest out there.”

“We came in with a game plan against these guys,” said HSE coach Scott Henson.  “We faced them twice, in games just like this.  The guys just executed the game plan.  Tre Gantt came up big at the plate.  The guys never gave up.  They believed in what we were doing.  

“We got great pitching out of Upchurch and Curry.  You do those things, and you give yourself a chance to win every time.”

Coach Ryan Bunnell’s Shamrocks finished the year with a 22-7 slate.

CARMEL 11, ZIONSVILLE 1 (5 INNINGS): The Greyhounds (18-10) bushwacked the Eagles with a six-run first inning and added three more in the second to put the game out of reach.

Carmel sent 11 batters to the plate in the first against Zionsville right-hander Parker Dunshee. Kyle Fiala, who'll enter Notre Dame this fall, led off with a double.  David Layman, the next batter, fouled a bunt attempt off his face and had to leave the game.

Riley Miller replaced Layman with an 0-1 count and fanned.  Tony Giannini followed with a single to center, and Fiala put on the brakes between third and home.  Fiala appeared to be a dead duck, but second baseman Drew Bertram's throw home was wide and Fiala scored.

Jack Martin doubled off the right field wall to make it 2-0.  The next batter, Jack Thompson, whacked Dunshee's 2-2 offering over the center field fence for two more Greyhound runs.  “He left a changeup up, and I put a good swing on it,” said Thompson, who’ll play next year for DePauw.  

After an error and consecutive singles by Thomas Baldwin, Riley Smith and Fiala, Carmel had a comfortable 6-0 advantage.

Dunshee's night ended in the second.  The Wake Forest recruit gave up a leadoff two-base hit to Giannini, and Martin followed with a base hit that made it 7-0.  Dunshee got the next two batters, but Martin rode home on a pair of wild pitches.  When JT Ellison walked and Baldwin doubled, Zionsville skipper John Zangrilli summoned senior right-hander Ryan Linder.

The Eagles (15-11) made it 9-1 in the third on consecutive singles by Josh Kocher, Dunshee and Travis Tokarek.

In the bottom of the fourth, Smith's bases-loaded single brought home two more Carmel runs. That made it 11-1, and sophomore righty Grant Sloan took over for Linder.

The game ended after five innings on the mercy rule.  “We got a great performance from our pitcher,” said Thompson, “and we kept on rolling.”   

Carmel right-hander Ryan "Soup" Campbell went all the way for the win.  Campbell, a junior right-hander, gave up five hits and no walks while striking out a pair.  He recorded twelve of 15 outs on ground balls.

“I was throwing my usual fastball, with a slider and a splitter mixed in there,” said Campbell, who has already committed to the University of Pittsburgh.  “It was a little cold tonight, but that wouldn’t allow them to hit it that far.”

“Ryan’s throwing really well this year,” said Greyhounds coach Dan Roman.  “I wasn’t surprised at all.  He’s a quality pitcher.  He threw a lot of strikes and he got a lot of ground balls.  With our tough defense, we can play with anyone right now.” 

Five Greyhounds had multi-hit nights, led by Fiala's 3-for-4 performance.  “I just got pitches I could hit, and put balls in play off a good pitcher (Dunshee) who’s going to go D-one,” said the Carmel shortstop.

Notes:  Only two players in Westfield’s starting lineup – left fielder Nathan Manworren and center fielder Chase Shaw – are seniors.  The rest are underclassmen.

HSE senior second baseman Mitch Roman, who went 2-for-3 in Thursday's first game, is the son of Carmel coach Dan Roman.

Westfield’s Luke Dietz brought a 5-0 mark into Thursday's game.  Luke and shortstop Jake Dietz are twins.