Baseball semi-state preview: Southeastern ready for redemption at Plymouth

By RICHIE HALL
The Hamilton Southeastern baseball team has already gone further in the IHSAA post-season tournament than any other Royals team in the history of the program.
Now, the only thing standing between Southeastern and its first appearance at state is a group of Cavemen.
The Royals (21-8) will take on Mishawaka (25-6) in the Class 4A north semi-state Saturday at Plymouth. That game will see its first pitch around 3:30 p.m., following the 1A game between Rossville and Washington Township.
“We were at Plymouth earlier in the year, however, we didn’t play very well in the Plymouth Invite,” said Southeastern coach Jeremy Sassanella. The Royals dropped both games at that invitational in early May; the coach believes his team is “looking more at redemption at that site from earlier in the spring,” rather than the familiarity of having been there.
Southeastern earned its semi-state spot after beating Fort Wayne Carroll last Saturday to win the Lafayette Jefferson regional. The Cavemen beat Lake Central to take the La Porte regional, but that game was delayed to Monday due to weather. That allowed the Royals a chance to see Mishawaka play.
Sassanella called the Cavemen a “bunch of quality ball players with a very competitive spirit.” He noted that 10 of the players on the Mishawaka team were on the Cavemen’s football team that reached the semi-state last fall.
“They are a physically big team of grinders, we’ll have to be at our best,” said Sassanella. “Their pitching staff is strong with three quality right handers that have been very good for them all year. They’ve got some quality bats at the top of the order and have also been able to manufacture runs as they’ve needed.”
Junior Donovan Snyder is Mishawaka’s leading hitter, with a .433 average. He is the co-leader for the Cavemen in runs scored with 27. Snyder shares that place with senior Grant Jablonski, who also has 27 runs scored. Jablonski is batting .368 and leads Mishawaka in hits with 32 and runs batted in with 26. Jablonski is also the Cavemen’s best pitcher with an 8-0 record and a 0.41 earned-run average; he has struck out 78 this season.
Greyson Droste is on top of Southeastern’s batting list with a .407 average. Droste also leads the team in hits with 33 and in doubles with 11. He is tied with Matthew Buckingham for most RBI with 25; Buckingham has scored the most runs with 21. On the mound, Tyler Schweitzer (8-2) and Michael Dillon (8-1) have been the dominant pitchers, with Schweitzer compiling a 1.21 ERA and 85 strikeouts. Dillon has struck out 63.
Sassanella said that as the post-season begins, a coach looks for his team to be business-like and focused, but at the same time not too tight.
“They’ve really grown over the course of the year and they’re a group that played together a long time,” said Sassanella, who said his team knows what is at stake and what needs to be done. “Our preparation has been sharp and focused this week and I’m hopeful and confident we’ll be ready to play.”
UNIVERSITY GETS RE-MATCH
University will play the Class 1A south semi-state at Jasper on Saturday, taking on Tecumseh in a re-match of last year’s semi-state.
The Trailblazers won last year with a come-from-behind, 7-4 victory at Plainfield. The Braves come into the semi-state at 21-7, while University is 20-10-1.
Tecumseh cruised through the Loogootee regional, beating South Central 13-0 and Barr-Reeve 5-0. Senior Steve Molinet leads the Braves with a .511 average, as well as in total hits (45), runs scored (42) and home runs (five). Another senior, Spencer Buse, has batted in 28 runs this year.
As for the pitchers, Buse is 6-2 with a 1.92 ERA and 53 strikeouts. Senior Josh Jagelewski has a 6-0 record and leads Tecumseh in strikeouts with 69.
University easily won the Morristown regional, defeating Indianapolis Lutheran 10-1 and Shakamak 9-0. The ‘Blazers have been hitting the ball extremely well, with three batters averaging over .400. Alex Washlock is hitting at a .511 clip and leads University in hits (48) and doubles (11). Tyler Galyean is averaging .479 and Dawson Estep is hitting at .443 and a team-leading 42 runs scored. Ben Westerkamm holds a .398 average and leads the RBI count with 33.
Galyean holds 5-3 record on the mound, with a 2.03 ERA. Jacob Lange leads the strikeout list with 57.