By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana Correspondent

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LAWRENCE NORTH 8, MOUNT VERNON 4

The Wildcats broke a 4-4 deadlock with a four-run seventh inning and went on to beat the host Marauders in the 4A Sectional 10 championship game at Fortville.    

Coby Taylor, Lawrence North’s senior third baseman and cleanup hitter, provided firepower for the Wildcats with a third-inning home run and a tie-breaking double in the seventh.   

Justin Reed got the win with four innings of solid relief.   The senior right-hander came back from a beaning in the top of the seventh to shut down the Marauders (18-9) in their final at-bat.     

“We’ve had some tough seventh innings this year,” said LN coach Richard Winzenread.  “It was nice to get a four-spot on there.  They’re a very good team.  They swing the bat very well.  

“I’d like to say I was nice and calm, but I think you know better.  I was a little nervous there.  But the kids just played great.” 

“It was awesome,” said Taylor, who heads to Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Ill., this fall.  “Biggest experience ever.  It’s always so fun, playing in the sectionals when the big hits happen.  And Justin pitched a helluva game.” 

LN (20-9) took a 2-0 lead in the first, when Mount Vernon gave the Wildcats five outs.  The Wildcats put two men on with nobody out after a dropped ball at first base and a mishandled bunt.   

The Marauders got the first out when LN three-hole hitter Duncan Hewitt bounced to third baseman Cole Cain, who stepped on the bag for the force.  Taylor advanced the runners with a grounder to first.  

The Wildcats filled the bases when Tyler Hofmann coaxed a walk off Mount Vernon starter Ryan Beck.  Tyler Nugen followed with a flare to right that fell for a double and LN put two runs on the board.

Mount Vernon made it 2-1 in the bottom of the first when leadoff hitter Noah Powell cracked a 1-1 pitch from LN starting pitcher Sam Paddock over the wall in left. 

In the top of the third, the Wildcats went up 4-1 when Duncan Hewitt led off with a base on balls and Taylor drilled a 1-2 pitch beyond the right field fence.  “It was a low and out fastball,” said Taylor.  “I didn’t think I was going to get my hands through it, and I did.”  

“He’s got some tremendous power, and it’s nicer to have him on our side,” said Winzenread.  “He’s been struggling just a little bit of late, and he caught a nice pitch.”  

Mount Vernon answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning.  Bryce Robbins reached base on an error and took third on Powell’s double to left.   

One out later, Travis Mason singled home Robbins.  When Brayden Augustinovicz followed with an RBI base hit to right, the Marauders cut the deficit to 4-3. 

Reed, who began the contest as LN's designated hitter, took over mound duties for the Wildcats in the fourth.  He pitched scoreless ball for the next two frames. 

The Marauders knotted the score in the bottom of the sixth.  With one out, Luke Smoot beat out an infield dribbler to the right of the mound.  After Reed got the next batter on a fly ball to right, courtesy runner Nathan Seifert stole second.  

When Powell sent another roller to the right side of the infield, LN left first base unguarded.  Seifert scored from second on the infield hit to make it 4-all.  

Moving over from shortstop, Powell relieved Beck in the fifth and pitched two shutout innings.  

Hewitt led off LN’s half of the seventh with a hit and Devin Williams ran for the Butler recruit.  When Taylor followed with a shot to left that fell for two bases, Williams flew home with the lead run.  

“I want to say it (the double) was the bigger hit because it put us ahead,” said Taylor, who went 2-for-4 with a homer, double and three ribbies.   “It got us more energy, and then we put up three more runs on them and we had a comfortable lead.”    

LN’s final two runs came when Reed and Max Wills were hit by pitches with the bases loaded.  Mitch McCarthy, the thirdMount Vernon pitcher, came in to get the final out.  

Reed, who took a fastball off his batting helmet, came out for a courtesy runner.  He returned to the mound to pitch the bottom of the seventh.  

Reed hit Brandon Turner to start the inning and gave up a bloop single to Tyler Franklin.  But the Indiana recruit retired the next three Mount Vernon batters to give LN the sectional crown. 

“We weren’t sure how Justin would come back (after the beaning), but give a lot of credit to that kid,” Winzenread said.  “He didn’t get flustered on the hit batsman and the little dink.  He is just one tough kid.” 

Over four innings, Reed struck out two while allowing five hits, two walks and a hit batsman.  He helped his own cause with two hits in three trips to the plate.  “It’s the mental approach I’ve had this whole entire season,” said Reed.  “I always try to be tough, next pitch, next inning, next swing, no matter what happens.” 

Powell, who took the loss, led Mount Vernon with three hits in four at-bats.  Along with LN shortstop Tyler Hofmann, Powell will play next year for St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Ind.  

The game took two hours and 14 minutes to play.   

In Monday’s first semifinal, 4A #4 Cathedral (20-5-1) took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the second when Mount Vernon sent 13 men to the plate and pushed across all its runs en route to a 9-7 triumph..  

Pitching in relief, Powell stranded two Cathedral baserunners in the seventh to preserve the victory for the Marauders.  

“My heart was beating. It was definitely beating,” admitted Marauder coach Ryan Carr. 

“I played at Manchester, and I talked to my college coach (Rick Espeset).  He told me that the one thing we had to let (our players) know is that we're playing the (Cathedral) kids in the uniform right now, and not the kids who played in previous years that won state wearing that uniform. 

“I think when we saw them play Wednesday against Warren Central (an 11-0 win in fve innings for the Irish), we saw that they’re just a team.  They're not a minor league team in a high school uniform.  We didn't come in cocky or arrogant, or anything like that.  But we knew coming in that if we played a good game, we could win.” 

In the second semifinal, Lawrence North's Garrett Burhenn blanked Lawrence Central 10-0 in a contest that went six innings. 

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