By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana Correspondent

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INDIANAPOLIS – The Victory Field Classic took place Friday under cloudy skies with temperatures in the mid-80s. The Class 3A No. 5 Crawfordsville Athenians met the unranked Class 4A Fishers Tigers in the opener, with the Zionsville Eagles – ranked seventh in Class 4A – taking on the Brownsburg Bulldogs (Class 4A No. 24) in the nightcap. 

While the first game was basically decided after two innings, the second contest lasted ten innings and ended with a bang. 

Game 1 – Fishers 7, Crawfordsville 2

Scoring four first-inning runs and three more in the second, the Tigers (10-12) cruised past the Athenians (18-3). 

Fishers scored four times in the bottom of the first off Crawfordsville right-hander Chase Dowell, a freshman who came into the contest with a 3-0 slate. 

Brendan Toungate led off with a single, went all the way to third on an errant pickoff throw, and came home on Jacob Totman's hit to center. After Andy Bennett forced Totman at second, Ben Shealey beat out a bunt for a hit with Bennett taking third. Shealey stole second, and Matthew Wolff followed with a two-run single up the middle. Wolff pilfered second and rode home on Mike Folta's ground single to right to give Fishers a 4-0 cushion. 

Crawfordsville picked up a run in the top of the second. Caden Jones singled and took second on Sam Page's hit. A wild pitch moved up both runners, and a single by Nick Corbin cut the deficit to 4-1. 

The Tigers added three more in their half of the second. With one out, Totman was hit by a pitch and Bennett walked. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch and Shealey plated them with a single up the middle. On a perfectly executed hit-and-run play, Luke Duermit's single through short sent Shealey to third. Another wild pitch scored Shealey for a 7-1 Fishers advantage. 

Crawfordsville scored again in the third when Tigers starter Ryan Metz gave up consecutive singles to Trent Johnson and Michael Minks, followed by Caden Jones's double down the right field line. 

Fishers starter Ryan Metz, who scattered nine hits over six innings, gave way to Elliott Gilmore in the seventh. The left-hander fanned the first two batters he saw, issued a walk to Michael Minks, and got Caden Jones on a grounder to first to close out the one-hour, 35-minute affair. 

Shealey, who went 2-for-3, was an unlikely hero. The 5-foot-10, 150-pound senior wound up in the starting lineup after a pre-game injury shelved Joe Michel, who was supposed to bat cleanup and play third base. Shealey wound up at second, with Matthew Wolff shifting from shortstop to third to replace Michel and Andy Bennett moving from second to short. 

“No, not at all,” Shealey replied when asked if he thought he'd be in the starting lineup. “He (Michel) got hit in the face on a bad throw from the outfield, and I had to go in. I got more hits tonight than I had in my whole varsity career.”

Totman also had a pair of hits for the winners, while Minks, Jones and Corbin had two hits apiece for Crawfordsville. 

game 2 – Brownsburg 6, Zionsville 5 (10 innings)

Brooks Bireley picked the right time to break out of a slump, blasting his first home run of the season in the bottom of the tenth to lift the Bulldogs (11-7) past the Eagles (14-7). 

“It just felt good to get a hit,” said Bireley, Brownsburg's designated hitter. “I think it was a fastball, and I just swung. It felt good to get it over.”

The contest lasted three hours and one minute, ending at two minutes past eleven.

The Eagles touched Bulldogs starter Caleb Sampen for a pair of first-inning runs. After Jacob Hurtubise lined out to right on the first pitch of the game, Sampen nicked Drew Bertram with a pitch. Jack Pilcher doubled to center to score Bertram, and then strolled home on Nick Prather's booming triple to the deepest part of center field.

Brownsburg answered in the bottom of the first on a double to the gap in left-center by Jacson McGowan and Sampen’s RBI single.

Sampen and Prather, Zionsville’s starter, traded shutout innings until the bottom of the fourth when Brownsburg took the lead.

Anthony Travelsted opened the frame with a walk, moved to second on a throwing error and went to third on an infield out. Bireley's single up the middle made it 2-all. After a base on balls to Ryan Robbins, the runners pulled off a double steal. Andrew Dishinger then lined a 3-1 delivery to center that scored Bireley, putting Brownsburg up 3-2. Zionsville center fielder Kellan Elsbury prevented further damage, nailing pinch-runner Triston Polley with a perfect throw to catcher Stephen Damm for the third out.

Zionsville pulled ahead in the top of the sixth. With one out and runners on second and third, Riley Bertram hit a sharp grounder back to Sampen, who caught the man on third in a rundown for the second out. With runners on first and third, Hurtubise singled off Sampen's glove as Nolan Elsbury raced home to tie the score. Sampen threw wild to first on the play, sending home Bertram for a 4-3 Zionsville lead.

Kellan Elsbury came on to pitch for Zionsville in the bottom of the sixth and gave up a one-out walk to Travis Mears followed by an infield hit to Owen Gilbert. After a base on balls to Bireley, Jack Pilcher replaced Elsbury on the hill. Ryan Robbins dumped a single to right to knot the score at 4-4.

Jacson McGowan took the hill for Brownsburg in the top of the seventh. Grant Sloan walked on a 3-2 pitch and stole second, but McGowan fanned the next two hitters as the game lumbered into the bottom of the seventh all tied up.

Brownsburg squandered an opportunity in its half of the seventh. With two gone, Travelsted beat out a hit to deep short and went to second on a throwing error, but Pilcher struck out the next batter to send the game into overtime.

Stephen Damm, Zionsville's eight-hole batter, opened the top of the eighth with a walk and Jimmy Sullivan entered the game as a pinch-runner. Two outs later, Sullivan took off for second. A wild throw by Brownsburg’s catcher sent Sullivan to third, and when the ball eluded the Bulldog center fielder, Sullivan flew home to give the Eagles a 5-4 lead.

Brownsburg still wasn't done, tying the score in the bottom of the eighth. Owen Gilbert led off with a double to left, and Ryan Schutte ran for him. A passed ball sent Schutte to third, and when Robbins dropped another single into right field the score was knotted again at 5-5.

Zionsville had a shot at the lead with two out in the top of the ninth, and runners on first and second. But Kellan Elsbury, entering the game as a pinch-runner, was out trying to steal third.

James Meyer came on to pitch for Zionsville in the bottom of the ninth. Sampen greeted him with an infield hit, but was immediately erased on a 5-4-3 double play. Travis Mears followed with a walk, and with Schutte at bat, Zionsville assistant coach Greg Vogt got the heave for protesting the home plate umpire's strike zone too vehemently.

The ejection took the Eagles by surprise. “We didn't know who it was (who got tossed),” Zionsville skipper Jered Moore said. “Usually, you get a warning.”

Schutte grounded out to end the inning. Logan Gabrich, the fourth Brownsburg pitcher of the night, pitched scoreless ball in the top of the tenth.

Jimmy Meyer came back out in the bottom of the tenth. Bireley worked the count to 3-and-1, and then drove a fastball over the wall in right to bring the marathon to an end. “Finally!” Bireley thought to himself as the ball disappeared into the night sky.

Kabrich got credit for the win while Meyer took the loss.

Pete Cava is the author of Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players:  A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014, coming soon from McFarland Publishers.