By Steve Krah
PBR Indiana Correspondent
The Elkhart Truth

LAPORTE - There may have been no see-saws on the property at LaPorte High School's Schreiber Field.

But the emotion sure went back and forth and up and down in a match of Northern Indiana Conference baseball foes in the semifinals of the Class 4A LaPorte Regional.

The No. 1-ranked Blue Blazers of Elkhart Central outlasted the Colonials of South Bend Clay 5-4 in 11 innings.

The decisive blow was a run-scoring double with one out in the top of the 11th by junior Jesse Zepeda. Senior Austin McArt, who started at shortstop and moved to third base, singled and scored from first on the hit to field.

"It was a curveball," said Zepeda of the double off senior reliever Mitch Hartman. "I just stayed back a little bit and hit. That's pretty much it."

Zepeda said Central stuck together through all the ups and downs.

"We remained together as a team," said Zepeda. "Family, that's what we are."

Clay coach Chad Hudnall said the game had to be nerve-wracking for the players.

"As an adult, it's no so hard to handle," said Hudnall. "I don't know how those kids do it."

Central, with its 11 seniors, prevailed.

"We're a veteran team and I expect them to stay mentally strong," said Blazers coach Steve Stutsman. "One of the things that I stressed (Friday) in practice is that this is the regional and anything can happen. Expect a great game.

"Clay played a great game. They hit us and kept us off-balance with their pitching."

After beating Clay 2-0 and 15-0 during the regular season, Central jumped out with three runs in the top of the first inning.

Central senior Tanner Tully, a left-handed batter, led off the game with a opposite field home run to left field on a full-count pitch from Clay sophomore right-hander Joey Lange. It was the nine homer of the season for Tully.

Seniors Cory Malcom, the starting pitcher, and Riley Futterknecht, the Blazer first baseman, hit back-to-back singles and both scored on a two-double by senior Casey Ianigro, one of three hits in the game for the second baseman.

Clay (18-8) got one of the runs back in the bottom of the first when senior catcher Eric Kelver socked a 2-2 Malcom pitch for a homer.

Central went up 4-1 in the third when senior left fielder Kaleb DeFreese drew a walk and later scored on a Colonial error.

Clay cut the deficit to 4-3 with two runs in the bottom of the third.

Sophomore left fielder Aaron Bond and Lange hit back-to-back one-out doubles. A Central fielding miscue on a ball hit by senior shorstop Joe Stukenborg scored one run and Lange scored the other on another Blazer error.

The Colonials pulled even at 4-all when Stukenborg led off the sixth by smacking a 2-0 Malcom offering over the fence in left-center.

The Blazers loaded the bases in the ninth on three straight bunt singles by senior center fielder Matt Eppers, Ianigro and McArt, but Lange retired the next three hitters to stop the threat.

Central right-hander Malcom went seven innings with 10 strikeouts, no walks and gave up seven hits.

Lefty Tully was brought in for the eighth and went on to face 14 batters - just two above the minimum - with four strikeouts and no walks and got the victory when Zepeda hit what turned out to be the game-winner.

"I didn't want to go with Tanner, but you've got to win the first game," said Stutsman, who saw Malcom make 104 pitches in seven innings and Tully 51 in four.

Lange threw 110 pitches and had three strikeouts in his nine-inning mound stint, before Hartman was brought on for the 10th.

Malcom and McArt wound up with two hits each and Central finished with 11 as a team - nine singles plus the Ianigro and Zepeda doubles.

Clay wound up with eight hits, including three by Stukenborg (homer, double, single) and two by Lange (double, single).