Golden Eagles, Blazers head to Mooresville for regional

The REPORTER

The University and Guerin Catholic baseball teams will travel to Mooresville on Saturday to compete for a regional trophy.

The two teams will take on different opponents. The Trailblazers play Greencastle at 11 a.m. for a Class 2A regional championship, then the Golden Eagles face Northview at 3 p.m. for a Class 3A crown.

Greencastle took care of business at its own sectional, defeating South Vermillion 11-8 and North Putnam 4-0 in the championship. The Tiger Cubs are 24-4 for the season.

Senior Nathan Sutherlin is a power hitter for Greencastle, leading his team with a .506 average. He is also on top of all Tiger Cubs categories with the most hits (40), RBIs (39) and runs scored (32).

Senior Sam Gooch is .411 at the plate. He and Sutherlin are both solid pitchers, too: Sutherlin’s earned-run average is 1.13, while Gooch is 2.85. Sophomore Cayden Scott has an ERA of 1.57. Gooch and junior Bryton Gregg have both thrown 53 strikeouts this season.

University is 20-10 for its campaign. The Trailblazers got past sectional host Park Tudor 4-3 before breezing through Monrovia 13-1 in the championship game.

Beckett Suh has also been a powerful presence at bat, hitting .551 for the season. Suh has the most hits (54) and RBIs (46) for the Blazers. Junior Oliver Kingery is batting .435 with 40 hits and leads the runs-scored list with 42. Senior Ryan Castetter is .426 at the plate and has the most hits with 43.

University has several good pitchers. Senior Caleb Stocker is sitting at 40 strikeouts for the year, while senior Cooper Cammack has 33 strikeouts. Sophomore Finn Steiner is 3-2 for the year with a 0.94 ERA.

Northview comes into the regional game at 17-8. The Knights breezed through their own sectional, beating Indianapolis Washington by forfeit, edging out Cascade 4-3 in the semifinals, then defeating Owen Valley 10-0 in the championship.

Stats for Northview were not available.

The Golden Eagles are 24-3-1 and coming off a win at the Crawfordsville sectional. Guerin Catholic opened with a 7-0 victory against Danville, took care of Frankfort 9-3 in the semis, then won a tense championship game over rival Brebeuf Jesuit 1-0.

Senior Ian Taylor is one of two GC players batting over .400. Taylor’s average is .438; he has 32 hits, including nine home runs, and he leads the team in runs scored with 42. Junior Ben Canada has the most Golden Eagles hits with 34, while senior Karson Smith has driven in the most runs with 41. Junior Carson Kail is averaging .424 at the plate.

Senior Tate Troxell has been dominant on the mound, with a 1.34 ERA and 7-0 record to his credit. Troxell has struck out 76 batters. Two more Guerin Catholic seniors hold 4-0 record: Harrison Haq and Luke Gremelspacher.