By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana Correspondent  

Follow @PBRIndiana

CRAWFORDVILLE – Fifth-ranked West Vigo advanced to next week’s semistates with a pair of wins Saturday at Crawfordsville High School. 

The Vikings (26-4) defeated Danville in the semifinals and knocked off New Palestine in the title contest and will face the Jasper Wildcats next Saturday at Ruxer Field in Jasper.   

1^st semifinal – New Palestine 3, Frankfort 2:  Trailing 2-0 and down to their final turn at bat, the Dragons scored three times in the bottom of the seventh to defeat the Hot Dogs.

Zach Lovell of New Pal and Frankfort's Leo Lopez, a pair of right-handers, traded blanks for the first five innings.  Dragons coach Shawn Lyons packed his lineup with five left-handed batters against the side-arming Lopez, who threw a no-hitter against Lebanon in last week's sectional round.

With runners in scoring position in the bottom of the third, New Palestine couldn't push home a run.  Tyler Woodcock led off with a single, moved up on Andy Edwards' sacrifice bunt and went to third on Wes McBride's base hit to right.  Keegan Watson followed with a fly ball to center, but not deep enough to score Woodcock.  McBride stole second with cleanup hitter Evan Hickman batting, but Lopez ended the frame by striking out Hickman.

New Pal threatened again in the fifth, McBride and Watson both drew two-out walks.  Lopez retired Hickman on a fly ball to left for the final out.

Lovell, meanwhile, was keeping Frankfort's hitters off-stride.  After giving up a first-inning single to Lopez, the wiry junior retired the next ten Hot Dog hitters.

Frankfort (21-6) took a lead in the sixth on a throwing error.  Jose Valdes led off with a single and advanced on a wild pitch.  One out later, Jarrod Smith grounded to third baseman Cody Chandler, who fired to first for the out.  On the throw, Valdes took off for third.  When first baseman Andy Edwards tried to nail him at third, the throw sailed wide and Valdes flew home with the game's first run.

Frankfort scored again in the seventh when Jordan Campbell led off with a single, took second on a wild pitch, went to third on an infield out and scored on Christopher Stuard's sacrifice fly to center.

The Dragons scored all their runs in the bottom of the seventh on one hit, three walks – two of them intential – a pair of wild pitches and an error.

New Pal's Logan Gilvin opened the frame with a single and Caleb VanderWal pinch ran for him.  When Lopez hit Woodcock with a pitch, the Dragons had the tying runs aboard.  Edwards followed with a bunt between third and the mound, which Lopez scooped up and fired to third for the force.  McBride walked to fill the bases, and with Watson batting, Lopez threw a wild pitch that brought in Woodcock.  With first base open, Frankfort coach Andy Dudley called for an intentional walk to Keegan Watson.

That brought Hickman to the plate, and Lopez's first delivery was in the dirt, sending Edwards home with the tying run.  Dudley then ordered a free pass to Hickman, loading the bases once more.  Lopez got Chandler on an infield fly for the second out, and Braden Roberts followed with a grounder to short.  The throw to first was wild, however, and McBride crossed the plate with the winning run.

Lovell limited the Hot Dogs to three hits, a pair of hit batsmen and one walk while striking out six.  “The first five innings, I had pretty good stuff,” he said.  “The last two innings, I didn't have my best stuff.  I was so excited when Braden hit that ball. We just stuck with it the whole game.”

Woodcock had a perfect day at the plate for New Pal.  Hitting in the nine-hole, the senior shortstop went 2-for-2 and was hit by a pitch.

The game took an hour and 58 minutes to play. 

2^nd semifinal – West Vigo 5, Danville 2: The Vikings scored three runs in the fifth and added a pair in the seventh to get past the Warriors (15-12).  West Vigo's final run came on a steal of home.

Right-hander David Inman went the distance for the Vikings, scattering five hits, issuing two walks and hitting a batter while striking out five.  He also went 3-for-4 at the plate.

“I was feeling great today,” said Inman, an Indiana State recruit.  “It's an amazing team.  I feel like everything is falling into place for us.”

West Vigo had the bases loaded in the top of the third against Danville righty Joe Richardson, but couldn't capitalize.  Zachary Edwards walked, and one out later, back-to-back singles by Wyatt Lowe and Inman filled the sacks.  Richardson escaped unscathed when he fanned cleanup hitter Jordan Schaffer and got Ty Lautenschlager on a fly ball to right.

The Vikings broke the ice in the fifth.  Lowe led off with a base hit, and after Inman flied out Schaffer singled to right to put runners at first and third.  Lautenschlager, West Vigo's sophomore cleanup hitter, grounded a single to right that scored Lowe and sent Schaffer to third.  Lautenschlager took second base on the throw to third, and both runners runners came in on Donald Ames' single up the middle.

Danville fought back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth.  With no outs, John Fuson and Reece Jensen singled and Jake Edwards was hit by a pitch to fill the sacks.  Inman retired the next two batters, but Dewey Ashley drilled a hit into center field to cut the Warriors’ deficit to  3-2.

West Vigo got the runs back in the top of the seventh. Inman singled, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Jordan Schaffer's double to left.  One out later, Schaffer moved to third on a ground out to short.  With Reese batting, Schaffer broke for home.  He scored standing up when the pitch bounced in the dirt and rolled to the backstop.

The contest lasted an hour and 44 minutes.

Championship – West Vigo 8. New Palestine 3:  The Vikings put away the Dragons (21-12) with a four-run sixth inning to claim the Crawfordsville regional.

“Championship teams answer when other teams score,” said West Vigo coach Culley DeGroote.    “And when you look, every inning they scored in the top, we scored in the bottom.  These kids are just winners.  They find ways to get it done.”  

Wasting no time, West Vigo staked starter Wyatt Lowe to a 1-0 first-inning lead.  David Inman, the winning pitcher in Saturday's semifinal, started out as the Vikings DH in the nightcap.  Inman crushed the first pitch he saw from Dragons starter Hogan Fulkerson over the left field fence for a solo home run.

The Vikings threatened in the bottom of the third.  With one out, Lowe struck out but reached base when the ball got past New Pal's catcher, who threw it into right field.  One out later, Lowe took second on Jordan Schaffer's single.  Ty Lautenschlager followed with a drive to deep left that New Pal's Braden Roberts managed to haul in at the warning track.

In the top of the fourth, Roberts showed he could hit, too.  Cody Chandler led off for New Pal with a walk and Jaret Rightley pinch-ran for him.  Roberts whacked a 1-0 fastball that rolled to the wall in right-center field.  Rightley scored to knot the score at 1-all as Roberts went all the way to third.

West Vigo pulled back into the lead in its half of the fourth inning.  Donald Ames singled and Chance Cooper came in as a courtesy runner.  Braiden Cardinal followed with a triple over Andy Edwards' head in left that made it 2-1.  With New Pal's infield drawn in, Zachary Edwards singled under Tyler Woodcock's glove at short, scoring Cardinal and stretching the Vikings lead to 3-1.

Inman, West Vigo’s pitching star in the semifinal contest, replaced Lowe in the bottom of the fifth.  “Wyatt Lowe injured his right arm diving back to first on a pickoff attempt (in the third inning),” explained DeGroote.  “We let him throw the fourth, and (when he batted again) in the bottom of the fourth, he swung and missed on strike two.  Then he grimaced and held his arm.  That’s when we decided to pull him.  I don’t think it’s anything serious, but I just wanted somebody who’s a hundred percent on the mound.”   

With Inman back on the hill, New Pal pulled to within a run in the top of the fifth.  Andy Edwards singled and moved up on an infield out.  Keegan Watson flied to right for the second out, and Evan Hickman followed with a grounder to short.  West Vigo's first baseman couldn't glove the ball, however, and Hickman was safe as Edwards came in to make it 3-2.

West Vigo chased Hogan Fulkerson in the bottom of the fifth.  Inman singled and went all the way to third on a wild pickoff attempt, and scored on Jordan Schaffer's single.  When Ty Lauteschlager grounded to second, Schaffer was safe on a botched force play.  After Ames flied out, Braiden Cardinal walked to load the bases and Fulkerson gave way to Cody Chandler, who moved over from third base.  Chandler got Zachary Edwards on a called third strike, and the Dragons avoided further damage when pinch-hitter Alex West flied out to center.

New Pal made it 4-3 in the top of the sixth.  Zach Lovell beat out an infield hit, went to second on a throwing error and came home on Evan Fitzgerald's single.  

West Vigo put the game away in the bottom of the frame.  Lowe drew a one-out walk and on ball four, Cody Chandler slowly crumpled to the ground and went down on his hands and knees.  “We heard a pop,” explained New Pal coach Shawn Lyons.  “We don’t know yet what it was.  It was higher than his knee, so it might have been a hamstring.” 

Chandler limped off the field with assistance and sophomore Keegan Watson, who wasn’t expecting to pitch in tournament play, had to come in from right field to replace him.  Inman walked and Schaffer singled to load the bases. Lautenschlager drew a base on balls, forcing in a run.  With Ames batting, Watson threw back-to-back wild pitches, adding two more runs.  When Cardinal followed with a hit up the middle, West Vigo went up 8-3 and junior Trent Rush had to come in from New Pal’s bullpen. Rush gave up a walk to fill the sacks again, but got the next batter to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Inman came back out for the top of the seventh and surrendered a one-out walk.  When the next New Pal batter followed with a looper towards center, second baseman Zachary Edwards made a leaping, backhand catch and fired to first for a double play that ended the two-hour, 17 minute contest.  

“Nothing’s routine in high school baseball,” said West Vigo’s DeGroote.  “We had kids step up in the bottom half of the order and just had great days – defensively, offensively.  Braiden Cardinal, Zach Edwards – those guys don’t get a lot of publicity.  They’re outstanding defensive players.  They’re my six- and seven-hole hitters and, boy, they barreled some balls up and drove some balls tonight, and did some damage.  That was huge.”    

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