By RICHIE HALL
University claimed its first sectional championship in five years on Monday, winning 11-0 over Indiana School for the Deaf for the Class 1A Sectional 58 title.
The Trailblazers hosted the sectional this year at their home field of RoundTripper Academy. Despite starting the championship game at 11 a.m., it was a hot and humid final. But University, the No. 1-ranked team in the Prep Baseball Report (PBR) rankings, got hot in the third inning, scoring five runs to take control of the game.
Asher Thompson and Dawson Estep both drew walks, then each advanced a base after Garrett Hill hit a single into left field. Brock Moore stepped up next, and his left field hit sent Thompson and Estep home.
Tyler Galyean scored both Hill and Moore with a double, then got home himself on a wild pitch. With that, the ‘Blazers had a 5-0 lead and had managed to get past ISD’s pitcher Kolton Dickerson, who had thrown six strikeouts in the first two innings, giving up just one hit in the second inning.
“That kid could really throw, and he established fastballs up in the zone,” said UHS coach Chris Estep. “We didn’t make an adjustment until about the third inning on him. And once we made the adjustment, we put up five runs. I thought that kid threw a really good game. You can’t take anything away from them.”
Meanwhile, Moore was pitching for the Trailblazers, and he threw an exceptional game. He didn’t allow a base runner until the fourth inning, and didn’t give up his first hit until the fifth inning. Moore finished the game with 12 strikeouts against three hits and no walks.
“He did a fantastic job today,” said Estep. “When you get into this, it’s all about pitching and defense, and the offense is going to come how it’s going to come because the pitchers are going to throw great games against you.”
“I thought I just needed to work inside, because I realized they’re a little late on my fastball,” said Moore. “So I just kept working my fastball inside and see what they could do with it.”
Moore also credited his defense with helping him out with balls that were put in play – “they were always there for me,” he said.
The ‘Blazers added two runs in the fifth inning. Estep and Hill got on base with singles, then both were scored on another base hit from Galyean.
University scored four runs in the seventh inning. Estep got home on a wild pitch, then Galyean smacked his second double of the day to get Hill and Ben Westerkamm home. That put Galyean’s RBI total at six RBIs for the day on a perfect hitting day, 4-for-4 at the plate.
Reggie Mables, one of the Trailblazer’s seniors, scored University final run of the game. He was sent home when Ryan Williams drew a bases-loaded walk.
“It feels really good to bring it back to University, especially for all the sophomores, all the juniors and the freshmen that are on the team, so they can get it and so they understand the work that it takes next year and the years ahead to get it,” said Cade Carlson, another senior on the team. “And also for my brother who went here and got a few sectional championships, and it hasn’t been back to University since he was there.”
“When you’re in the process of building a program, it’s those guys that have been with you for a long time and these seniors have helped build this program,” said Estep. “Now the foundation may be, we’ve got some sophomores and some freshmen, juniors. But at the end of the day, it’s the seniors and their leadership that takes you from Point A to Point B. And hopefully in this case, it takes us a lot further.”
University is 25-5 for the season. The ‘Blazers will play at the Morristown regional on Saturday, taking on Indianapolis Lutheran in the first semi-final at 10 a.m. Seventh-ranked Shakamak and No. 3 Hauser will play in the second semi-final at noon, with the championship game set for 7 p.m.
University 11, Indiana Deaf 0
University AB R H RBI
Dawson Estep 2 3 1 0
Matt Moore 1 0 0 0
Garrett Hill 4 3 1 0
Brock Moore 3 2 1 2
Ben Ewer 3 0 0 0
Will Mables 0 1 0 0
Tyler Galyean 4 1 4 6
Cade Carlson 3 0 0 0
Kolton Stevens 3 0 0 0
Will Spence 0 0 0 0
Asher Thompson 2 1 0 0
Zach Jannsen 1 0 0 0
Ryan Williams 3 0 0 1
Totals 29 11 7 9
Score by innings
University 005 020 4 – 11 6 1
Indiana Deaf 000 000 0 – 0 3 4
2B: Galyean 2. SB: Thompson 3, Galyean 2, Hill 2, Estep, Moore.
University pitching IP R ER H
Moore 7 0 0 3
Strikeouts: Moore 12. Walks: none.
The University baseball team won its first sectional championship since 2013 on Monday, beating Indiana School for the Deaf 11-0 at RoundTripper Academy. The Trailblazers will play Indianapolis Lutheran on Saturday in the Morristown regional. (Richie Hall)