How Castle, Jasper advanced to the Class 4A baseball sectional championship
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — A Memorial Day battle between top-10 teams is set for the Class 4A baseball sectional championship.
Saturday's semifinals had plenty of hype but lacked drama. No. 3 Castle run-ruled No. 5 North 13-0 in five innings before No. 8 Jasper finished the day with a 4-1 win over Harrison. The two powerhouse programs will play at Bosse Field at 11 a.m. CDT Monday.
Here's how the Knights and Wildcats advanced.
Cameron Tilly had everything working
You’d be hard-pressed to find any faults from the Auburn commit on Saturday.
Only five North batters reached base and two came in the first inning. Tilly struck out 11 batters – the final seven Huskies recorded a strikeout with one reaching on a dropped third strike – and allowed only one hit.
The junior also walked just one batter. This effort also came after throwing 35 pitches against Central on Thursday before weather postponed the game.
“He wanted the ball,” Castle coach Curt Welch said. “Yesterday helped him. He gave us everything he had. He’s a bulldog.”
Tilly had every part of his arsenal working: Fastball, slider, splitter. You name it, he could throw it against the Huskies. In 7 2/3 innings this week, Tilly has allowed just one hit (a Cameron Decker single in the semifinal) and posted 14 strikeouts.
He treated the brief outing against Central like a bullpen session. Tilly had no issues coming back on one day rest.
”I knew I had to come back for this game,” said Tilly. “At this point in the season, I recover quick, especially in the heat. Their whole lineup can hit. I had to throw around them and work backward.”
The Knights put away the Huskies with a big inning
Castle didn’t need a crooked number to win. It happily took one to finish, though.
With a 4-0 lead, the Knights sent 13 batters to the plate in the fifth inning. Nine of them scored. Jackson Mitchell hit a two-run triple to the corner, while Kris Butler and Will Coleman both sent home two with singles.
A mercy rule against the fifth-ranked team? Surprising.
The outcome with how well this offense can hit? No so much.
”Our kids just kept believing,” said Welch. “We’d ask them to do things and they kept doing it. We had success today, but tomorrow will be a different day.”
Prior to the monster inning, the Knights (26-3) kept chipping away. The first two runs came via errors before Carter Hood punched a two-run single to center in the fourth.
Castle had double digit hits with Butler and Coleman producing two each. The Knights have won 11 straight heading into the sectional championship.
”We made them pay for their mistakes,” said Hood. “We’re hitting the ball well one through nine and playing well at the right time.”
The Wildcats then utilized their deep rotation
One of the strengths of this Jasper team is the many options coach Terry Gobert can choose to put on the mound. He needed every bit of it to survive this win.
Matthew Wright started, allowing four hits in 4 1/3 innings. He'd been the Wildcats' best pitchers the past few weeks with his ability to throw strikes. Harrison finally got to him in the fifth to score its lone run.
Jasper needed Kody Morton and Andrew Noblitt to get through the fifth with only one run before Connor Foley earned the save with a perfect seventh inning.
"He did what we wanted him to do," Gobert said of Wright. "He's pitched against some good teams and helped shut them down. He just didn't finish it. Noblitt did a nice hold for us. We brought Foley in against the bottom of the order and said just throw fastballs."
Harrison thought it had another run in the fifth when Pete Brown collided with catcher Drew Bradley at the plate. He was ruled safe initially. Jasper appealed, saying it was malicious contact, but the umpires ruled the runner didn't purposely hit the catcher. A second appeal came when Harrison argued Brown didn't touch the plate. He ultimately was ruled out.
Jasper overcame a spirited effort from Harrison
Gobert had warned everyone since the sectional draw was announced nearly a month ago. This was not the same Harrison team from the start of the season.
The Wildcats had to fight for seven innings. Gobert had watched them four times since the draw. They kept getting better each time, and that made him nervous.
Jasper earned every run. Three came in the third inning via a fielding error in the outfield and a sacrifice fly. Foley later sprinted home after a passed ball in the fourth.
"Nobody believed me," said Gobert. "They did exactly what I thought they would do. I was disappointed in our offense. We tried to pull balls away. I'm just glad we survived."
The Wildcats recorded only five hits with two coming from Ben Henke. Foley had a triple and three walks, including a pair of intentional passes. Other than those brief moments, Jasper struggled to make contact.
A similar performance against Castle may not result in the same outcome.
"We just have to move on and get better," said Gobert. "Defensively, I don't think we had a boot or walked many guys. That's why we were able to survive."
Follow Courier & Press sports reporter Kyle Sokeland on Twitter @kylesokeland.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: IHSAA baseball: Castle, Jasper advance to Class 4A sectional final
