By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – The Fishers baseball team saw its season end in the Class 4A Sectional 8 championship game on Monday, as the Tigers were beaten by Zionsville 6-0 in an all-Hoosier Crossroads Conference final at Don Dunker Field in Noblesville.
The Eagles rode the pitching of Andrew Dickson and the hitting of Brody Chrisman to their first sectional title since 2018 and 15th overall. Fishers finished the season 22-8.
“They won when it counts,” said Tigers coach Matthew Cherry. “We did that last year. We were 7-7 in conference, finished fourth just like they did this year and got hot at the right time.”
The Tigers seemed to be in good position right at the start of the game, as their first two batters, Joey Brenczewski and Carson Dunn, were both hit by pitches. But Dickson settled down after that and got the next three outs, finishing with a tagout at home plate.
Zionsville quickly scored in the bottom of the first, as Colin Price led off with a triple, then Chrisman batted in for the first run. That would be a pattern for the game.
“I think they had the leadoff guy on every inning except for one and took advantage of that, and we couldn’t get anything going after that first,” said Fishers coach Matthew Cherry. “We had Dixon on the ropes and he’s so good once he settles in.”
J.P. Preston and Gavin Clayton delivered back-to-back singles in the second inning with two outs, but Dickson got a strikeout to end the inning. Zionsville would not allow a baserunner over the next two innings.
The Eagles, meanwhile, added another run in the third inning to go up 2-0. Zionsville then got the first two batters on base to start the fourth, then Chrisman stepped up and nailed a three-run home run. Chrisman struck again in the sixth inning with a leadoff homer, giving him a total of five RBIs for the game.
“He’s a great ballplayer,” said Cherry, noting that Chrisman is swinging well and playing with confidence. “Not a lot we could do about that,” he said.
Fishers totaled four hits in the game. After Preston and Clayton went back-to-back early in the game, Carson Dunn and Dom Oliverio had leadoff singles in the sixth and seventh innings respectively.
Jack Brown pitched four innings, striking out four.
In addition to notching 22 wins – as Cherry later pointed out, the fourth time in the last five years that Fishers has reached the 20-victory mark – the Tigers won the HCC championship with a 12-2 record.
“I’m proud of our guys,” said Cherry. “I just told them we’re 32-9 since we got hot last year.”
ZIONSVILLE 6, FISHERS 0
Fishers AB R H RBI
Joey Brenczewski 2 0 0 0
Carson Dunn 2 0 1 0
Jack Brown 3 0 0 0
Caulin Brown 3 0 0 0
Dom Oliverio 3 0 1 0
Curtis Kearschner 3 0 0 0
JP Preston 2 0 1 0
Gavin Clayton 2 0 1 0
Zach Cox 1 0 0 0
Huey Dunn 1 0 0 0
Quinn Seefeldt 1 0 0 0
Totals 23 0 4 0
Score by Innings
Fishers 000 000 0 – 0 4 1
Zionsville 101 301 x – 6 10 0
HBP: Brenczewski, C. Dunn.
Fishers pitching IP R ER H
J. Brown 4 5 4 8
Kyle Manship 2 1 1 2
Strikeouts: J. Brown 4, Manship 2. Walks: J. Brown 4.