By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana Correspondent

Follow @PBRIndiana

RONCALLI 16, PERRY MERIDIAN 6 (6 INNINGS):  While their pitching was wobbly on Wednesday, Roncalli’s batters picked up the slack to lead the Rebels past the Falcons 16-6.  The game, played under mostly sunny skies with a slight breeze in from center field, opened 4A Sectional 11 play at Pike High School’s Hildebrand Field in Indianapolis. 

In a match-up of two high-caliber starting pitchers, right-hander Michael McAvene took the mound for Roncalli (17-9) while Perry Meridian (9-15-1) countered with southpaw Mitchell Garrity.  

Neither was still on the bump at the end of the two-hour, 38-minute contest, which saw the teams combine for 17 hits (12 for Roncalli), 15 walks (nine by Roncalli pitchers) and four hit batsmen.  

Tyler Lucas, Nick Schnell and Jake Franklin hit home runs for the Rebels.  Franklin’s shot was a fifth-inning grand slam that highlighted a decisive six-run Roncalli outburst. 

“Every time they scored we answered, and then some,” said Rebels coach Aaron Kroll.  “Three home runs obviously makes things a lot easier.  We really did a good job of extending the lead.  It was fairly easy the last few innings, because of what we did offensively.”  

In the top of the first, Perry Meridian had men on second and third with two outs.  Garrity, the Falcons’ three-hole hitter, was hit by a pitch and went to third on a wild pickoff attempt, and Evan Persons walked and stole second.  McAvene fanned the next man to quell the threat. 

McAvene found himself in another jam in the second, walking Genier and Caden Reed to start the frame.  McAvene picked off the runner at second for the first out, then issued a base on balls to Jesse Wainscott. 

Both runners advanced on a blown pickoff try.  Caleb Arkins followed with a grounder to short, and Reed, the runner on third, got caught in a rundown.  Reed managed to evade the tag by the Roncalli catcher, giving the Falcons a 1-0 lead. 

McAvene walked Adam Taylor to load the sacks. With Roncalli’s infield playing in, Luke Arkins grounded to Rebels first baseman Tyler Lucas.  Lucas threw home for the force, and McAvene got the next batter on a called third strike for the final out. 

Roncalli went up 2-1 in the bottom of the second.  Blake Chitwood led off with a walk and one out later, Will Harris poked a single to right.  Chitwood went to third, and scored when the Perry Meridian right fielder bobbled the ball.  Harris took second on the error and came in on a base hit to center by Lucas. 

McAvene struck out the side in the third, sandwiched around another base on balls and a base hit.  

His teammates got him another run in Roncalli's half of the inning.  Franklin led off and took first when a pitch grazed his left forearm.  Perry Meridian coach John Carpenter came out to argue the call, but to no avail.  Franklin sped to second on a wild pitch and went home when Cody Smith rapped a base hit down the left field line. 

McAvene struck out three more in the top of the fourth, but Perry Meridian managed to tie the score. After the first two Falcons fanned, Luke Arkins walked and Garrity singled to center.  Persons followed with a base hit that plated Arkins and sent Garrity to third. A wild pitch brought in Garrity to make it 3-all. 

Roncalli’s power surge started in the bottom of the fourth when Lucas put the Rebels back on top.  Swinging at the first pitch he saw, the Rebels senior sent a towering fly ball over the center field fence. 

After a single by Hayden Harper and a free pass to Robbie Strader, Garrity moved from the mound to center field for Perry Meridian, with Wainscott coming in from left field to replace Garrity on the hill.  

The right-handed Wainscott retired the first batter he faced.  But Schnell, the next man up, rocked a 2-1 delivery over the wall in center to give the Rebels a 7-3 advantage. 

After four innings, McAvene's pitch count had reached 101 and Coach Kroll went to his bullpen.  “He didn’t have it today,” Kroll said.  “Throwing behind in the zone quite a bit.  It took everything he had to get us through four.  Just one of those games where he had to battle and didn’t have his best stuff.”  

Conrad Daniel came in to start the fifth for the Rebels, and the senior righty opened the frame with a walk to Genier.  When Caden Reed followed with a double to left, Genier scored to make it 7-4. 

Roncalli broke open the affair in the bottom of the fifth.  The Rebels loaded the bases on a walk to Chitwood, a single by Dylan Williams, a sac bunt by Harris and an intentional walk to Lucas.   

Wainscott nicked the next two batters, Harper and Strader, for two more Roncalli runs.   

That ended Wainscott's night.  Senior right-hander Dustin Baird relieved him, and Franklin drilled Baird's first pitch over the right-field fence for a grand slam.  “It was a fastball up and in,” said Franklin, whose homer extended Roncalli’s lead to 13-4.  “I knew it was going out when it got off the bat.”  

Perry Meridian scored twice in the top of the seventh.  Luke Arkins walked and went to third on a wild pickoff throw.  He scored on a triple by Garrity, who went home on an infield out.

Roncalli capped off the night with three runs in the bottom of the sixth to end the game on the ten-run rule.  

Lucas had a perfect day at the plate for the winners, going 3-for-3 with a walk and three runs batted in, while Harris chimed in with a 2-for-3 performance.  

For Perry Meridian, Garrity and Reed both had a pair of hits. 

Roncalli's next game is Saturday at 1:00 p.m.  They'll face the winner of Friday's Pike-Ben Davis contest. 

CAUGHT ON THE FLY:  Wednesday's game was the fourth this season between Perry Meridian and Roncalli.  The teams split a doubleheader at Holder Field on April 29, with Roncalli taking the first game 4-2 and Perry Meridian winning the nightcap 5-1.  On May 6 at Roncalli, the Rebels blanked the Falcons 7-0.

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