Baseball: Three county teams win regionals

The REPORTER

Three Hamilton County baseball teams won their respective regionals last Saturday.

Westfield traveled to Loeb Stadium in Lafayette and beat Harrison 7-6 in nine innings to defend its regional title.

The Shamrocks scored their first runs in the third inning: Caden Lindsey scored when Ian Wilson drew a bases-loaded walk, then Drew Law got home when Nick Fero reached on an error.

Lincoln Hoffman opened the fifth inning with a right field home run, then scored in the seventh inning when Gavin Russ singled him home, putting Westfield up 4-2. But the Raiders scored two in the bottom of the seventh, tying the game at 4-4 and sending things to extra innings.

A pair of ninth-inning RBI doubles put the Rocks ahead. Russ sent Law home with a right field double, then he and Hoffman scored when Fero sent a double to left field. Harrison scored twice in the bottom of the ninth, but Ian Wilson got a strikeout to end the game.

Russ went 4-for-5 at the plate. Luke Collinsworth pitched 4.2 innings, striking out five.

Westfield is 22-9 and plays Goshen in the semifinals of the 4A north semi-state on Saturday.

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Guerin Catholic also needed an extra inning, but the Golden Eagles won their first-ever regional championship by beating Cathedral 5-4 at Jasper’s Ruxer Field.

Ian Taylor singled in Ben Canada to get GC on the board in the first inning. The Irish tied the game in the top of the second, and the score stayed 1-1 until the sixth inning, when the Golden Eagles put up three runs for a 4-1 lead.

Taylor led off the inning with a triple. Later, Tate Troxell drew a walk, then Daulton Phillips singled in Taylor for the inning’s first run. Luke Gremelspacher hit a bunt single, then Liam Zorger came in to run for him. Canada would later hit a right double to score Troxell and Zorger.

Cathedral tied the game with three runs in the top of the seventh. Guerin Catholic quickly won in the bottom of the eighth: Brody Cain was hit by a pitch to lead off, then moved to second base on a Nolan Ratcliff single. Canada was intentionally walked to load the bases, after which Karson Smith singled in Cain, clinching the victory.

Ratcliff went 3-for-4 at the plate, while Taylor was 2-for-3. Troxell threw five strikeouts in three innings.

The Golden Eagles are 18-12 and play New Palestine in the semifinals of the 3A south semi-state.

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University won its first regional title since 2021 by beating Greencastle 10-5 at the Mitchell regional.

The Tiger Cubs scored a run in the bottom of the second, but the Trailblazers answered with three runs in the top of the third. Ryan Castetter singled in Oliver Kingery, then Beckett Suh hit a two-run home run, putting University up 3-2.

Greencastle tied the game with a third-inning run. The Blazers took the lead for good in the fifth inning: Cooper Cammack scored on an error, then Charlie Ranek blasted a three-run homer, also scoring Griffin Wright and Cooper Burnett.

Cammack and Suh both scored sixth-inning runs after Philip Jacobs reached on an error. Sterling Davis led off the seventh inning with a triple, then Ethan Cutsinger came in to run for him. Cutsinger later scored on Castetter’s RBI groundout.

Kingery had two hits. Cole Stocker pitched a complete game, striking out five.

University is 20-11 and plays Providence Saturday in the 2A south semi-state.