MISHAWAKA — Greg Dikos talked to his Penn baseball team prior to a Northern Indiana Conference high school baseball championship showdown with crosstown rival Mishawaka about opportunities.

The IHSAA Class 4A No. 4-ranked Kingsmen (20-4, 11-1) did just that in 10-0, five-inning blanking of the 4A No. 9 Cavemen (19-4, 10-2) Monday, May 13 on Freddie Fitzsimmons Field in Ward Baker Park.

It is the 20th NIC title for Penn, including six in a row and 19 of the past 21 seasons.

The Gold and Black rapped nine hits and took advantage of four Mishawaka errors and eight walks by Cavemen pitching.

It was the start of the final week of the regular season. The state tournament series begins next week. Penn will be at the Elkhart Sectional and Mishawaka at the Plymouth Sectional.

“Those opportunities don’t come very often,” said Dikos. “The farther you go into the (IHSAA) tournament, you just have to scratch and grind. The pitching level is going to go up and you have to make sure you put the ball in play. “We had runners in scoring position (Monday) and we put the ball in play. That puts pressure on the defense and — all of the sudden — they start kicking it around a little bit. That’s what it’s all about. I don’t care how good a team is, you keep on pounding it and putting that pressure on them, eventually they’re going to start thinking about it.”

Junior Camryn Szynski drove in two runs while senior Kegan Hoskins and sophomore Nate Kelly scored two each for the Kingsmen.

Penn senior left-hander Kameron Koch (3-3) went the distance and yielded two singles, struck out five and walked two.

“He had good command (of the strike zone) later,” said Dikos. “He settled down and started getting the first pitch over for a strike. When he gets ahead in the count, he can play around a little bit and hit those corners.”

The Cavemen went down 1-2-3 against Koch in the bottom of the fifth.

Penn beat Mishawaka during the 2018 regular season only to see the Cavemen best the Kingsmen in the LaPorte Regional.

Was that fuel for Penn’s fire Monday?

“If it’s not, you shouldn’t be putting on the uniform,” said Dikos. “Certainly that has to be in the deepest areas of their brain.”

The Kingsmen tallied one run against senior right-hander Sam Shively in the top of the fifth to take a 10-0 lead.

Koch drew a one-out walk and courtesy runner Kelly scored on Hoskins’ triple to center field. Hoskins was out at the plate trying to score on an error.

The Cavemen left one runner (one-out single by junior Derrick Dawson) in a score-free fourth. There were two strikeouts and an inning-ending come-backer to the mound.

Penn sent nine runners to the plate and scored five runs on two hits, two walks and two errors in the fourth for a 9-0 advantage.

Shively relieved junior right-hander Ryan Watt to begin the inning.

Junior Ryan Lynch (reached by walk) tallied the first run on an error.

Hoskins (on by infield single) trotted home on junior Kyle Denaway’s groundout.

Szynski (walk) and junior Kyle Kline (on by error) scored on senior Hayden Berg’s double to right. Berg crossed the plate on an error.

Koch faced three batters in a scoreless Mishawaka third.

After lead-off single to left by senior Grant Jablonski, Koch coaxed a double play — shortstop Kline to second baseman Berg to first senior first baseman Jeffrey Pawlik.

The third out was a groundout — second baseman Berg to Koch covering first base.

The Kingsmen took a 4-0 lead with two runs against Watt in the third.

Koch reached base on an error. Courtesy runner Kelly later scored on Szynski’s groundout.

Hoskins singled to center and later scored on Kline’s sacrifice fly to center. Penn left the bases loaded.

With a strikeout, line drive caught on the mound and groundout, Mishawaka went down in order against Koch in the second.

Penn tallied one run against Watt in the second for a 2-0 lead.

A two-out triple to left-center by senior Brock Boynton drove in Denaway (who led off with a single to center and stole second base).

After a pop-out and fly-out, Mishawaka loaded the bases with two outs against Koch in the bottom of scoreless first.

An inning-ending strikeout stranded senior Nick Bodle (single to right), senior courtesy runner Peyton Robinson (Dawson walk) and Shively (walk).

The Kingsmen scored one run against Watt in the top of the first.

Penn loaded bases with no outs and Watt fanned two batters before Szynski singled up the middle.

The roller hit the second base bag and plated junior C.J. Kavadas (who reached on a lead-off infield single, stole second base and moved to third base when Lynch was hit by a pitch). The visitors left the bases filled.

“If we would have eliminated errors that would’ve been one factor,: said Cavemen coach John Huemmer. “(Penn) got the lead-off runner on every time in the first four innings. That was key to getting them going. All four of those lead-off batter that got on-base scored.”

The game was moved from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Rain at night and in the morning meant that Mishawaka workers spent much of the afternoon getting the field ready for play.

Penn plays host to New Prairie Tuesday, May 14, goes to Concord Thursday, May 16 and then the Warsaw Tournament Saturday, May 18.

Mishawaka is looking to add a game to its schedule Tuesday or Thursday. The Cavemen play host to Marian Friday and Northridge for a doubleheader Saturday.

MORE HS NEWS