By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – Guerin Catholic was already firmly in control of the Class 3A baseball state championship game, leading Andrean 6-1 after three innings.
But just to be sure, Nolan Ratcliff stepped up in the top of the fourth.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Ratcliff smacked a double that landed just fair down the left field line. Three runs scored for the Golden Eagles, increasing their lead to 9-1.
Ratcliff already had one RBI to his credit: he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the third inning. As a result, the George Mason commit finished the game with four RBIs, tying a record in a Class 3A state championship game.
Ratcliff now shares the record with Jasper’s Brad Eckerle (1998) and Crawfordsville’s Chris Minks (2011). Jasper’s Matt Mauck (1996) and Carmel’s Aaron Piening (1997) both drove in four runs at state during the single-class era.
Five over .300
As a team, the Golden Eagles totaled eight hits in the title game. Guerin Catholic made consistent hitting its trademark throughout its 28-3-1 season, with five GC players batting over .300 for the year.
“Just knowing that one through nine can hit is a huge confidence boost,” said Ratcliff.
Junior Carson Kail led the hitting at .416, with senior Ian Taylor not far behind at .412. Taylor hit nine home runs during the season. Another junior, Ben Canada, hit .382 and led the team in doubles with 18.
Canada spoke highly of the seniors after the 3A championship game.
“When I got the opportunity to start last year, they brought me under their wing,” said Canada. “I actually had a jersey when I was a freshman, so I was at the games and watched them play as sophomores. I took notes and learned from what they did.”
Flawless pitchers
Three more of those seniors proved to be dominant as part of Guerin Catholic’s pitching staff. In fact, none of the Golden Eagles’ pitchers officially had a loss on the season. Tate Troxell, an Alabama commit, finished 9-0, while LV Phillips Mental Attitude Award winner Luke Gremelspacher, an Indiana Wesleyan commit, finished 6-0. Harrison Haq was 4-0 for the season.
Troxell threw 12 strikeouts in the state championship game and finished with 100 for the season.
Gremelspacher became the fourth Hamilton County baseball player to win the Mental Attitude Award. Fishers’ Matt Wolff was the first, receiving the Class 4A award in 2018. University’s Ryan Williams won the Class 1A award the next day, then the Trailblazers’ Nate Shatkowski received the 1A award in 2019.
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