From ihsaa.org
INDIANAPOLIS – Alexander Mitchell’s sacrifice fly to right field scored Spencer Anderson in the eighth inning June 20, capping an amazing comeback by Fort Wayne Snider in a 3-2 win in the Class 4A state championship game at Victory Field.
It was the second baseball state championship in four seasons for unranked Snider (25-3), whose 2006 state title win over Indianapolis Cathedral also came in eight innings.
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No. 11 Westfield (24-6), with a 2-0 lead, seemingly had the game in hand and was on the cusp of its first baseball crown when things began to unravel.
Mitchell led off the seventh inning with a single, then scored on Cody Johnson’s double that bounced to the wall to make it 2-1. Nicholas Vachon then entered as a pinch runner for Johnson. After a strikeout and a sacrifice fly to center that moved Vachon to third, Thomas Zumbaugh – with two strikes against him – reached out and made enough contact with the ball to find the gap between the first and second basemen.
That clutch two-out hit scored Vachon to knot the game at 2-2 before Lukas Richardson went down swinging to end the inning.
After Westfield left a runner on base in the top of the eighth, Anderson doubled to right-center to lead off the Snider eighth before moving to third on a wild pitch by Shamrock relief pitcher Nick Crouse. Westfield opted to load the bases with no outs by intentionally walking the next two batters, but Mitchell’s sac fly scored the game-winner.
Westfield tallied 11 hits but could only generate the two runs in the second inning. Andrew McCafferty tripled to center to score Taylor Luna from second, then Crouse singled down the right-field line to plate McCafferty. The Shamrocks stranded 12 runners on base.
It was their fourth straight win by two or less runs for 17th-year Snider coach Andy Owen.
Snider’s Everson named Mental Attitude Award winner
Drake Everson of Fort Wayne Snider was recognized by members of the IHSAA Executive Committee as this year’s recipient of the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award in Class 4A baseball. Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, the corporate partner of the IHSAA, presented a $1,000 scholarship to the school in his name.
The award is presented annually to an outstanding senior participant who has demonstrated excellence in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership, and athletic ability. The award is named in honor of the late L.V. Phillips, who served as the second commissioner of the IHSAA from 1945-1962.
The starting pitcher is a three-time varsity letterwinner in the sport of baseball and was a member of the Panthers’ 2006 state championship team. He was named First Team All-Summit Athletic Conference (SAC) in 2008 and 2009 and helped take his team to SAC championships in 2006, 2008, and 2009. He also made the Prep Baseball Report’s Top 100.
Everson graduated 34th out of 467 with an astounding 4.08 GPA, scoring a 1560 on his SAT. He is a four-year Academic Letter winner and the recipient of the President’s Award for Outstanding Educational Excellence. The son of Michael and Janet Everson of Fort Wayne is undecided about his college plans at this time.
The box score:
Westfield 2 (24-6)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
Zach Galyean cf………. 5 0 3 0 0 0 2 0 0
Andy Gehr 3b/ss………. 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 3
Kevin Plawecki c……… 3 0 0 0 1 0 12 2 3
Matt Hammel 1b……….. 4 0 2 0 0 1 5 0 0
Steven McEowen pr……. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Brandon O’Connor lf…… 3 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 2
Taylor Luna rf……….. 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 1
Brandon Thomas 2b…….. 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 3
Andrew McCafferty dh….. 4 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
Nick Crouse ss/p……… 4 0 2 1 0 1 0 1 0
Kyle Kramp p…………. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Michael Bell 3b……… 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals………………. 36 2 11 2 2 8 22 7 12
Fort Wayne Snider 3 (25-3)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
Spencer Anderson lf…… 4 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0
Daniel Sullivan cf……. 3 0 0 0 1 3 2 0 2
Devon Rush dh………… 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Nathan Kipfer ph/dh….. 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0
Alexander Mitchell c….. 3 1 1 1 0 2 7 1 0
Cody Johnson 1b………. 3 0 1 1 0 1 4 0 0
Nicholas Vachon pr…… 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Drake Everson p/ss……. 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0
Justin Scott ss/p…….. 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0
Stephen Hentz pr…….. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Thomas Zumbaugh 2b……. 3 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0
Lukas Richardson 3b…… 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 2 2
Kyle Bowman rf……….. 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0
Totals………………. 27 3 6 3 3 12 24 6 6
Score by innings R H E
Westfield…………….. 020 000 00 – 2 11 1
Fort Wayne Snider… 000 000 21 – 3 6 2
E: Crouse; Mitchell; Scott. LOB: Westfield 12; Snider 6.
2B: Galyean; Luna; Anderson; Johnson. 3B: McCafferty.
SF: Mitchell. SB: Galyean; Crouse. CS: Kipfer.
Westfield IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
Kyle Kramp………. 7.0 5 2 2 1 12 26 27
Nick Crouse……… 0.1 1 1 1 2 0 1 4
Fort Wayne Snider IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
Drake Everson……. 7.0 10 2 2 2 8 32 34
Justin Scott…….. 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 4 4
Win: Scott (5-2). Loss: Crouse (2-1).
WP: Crouse; Everson. BK: Everson.
Umpires: HP Steve Disboro, 1B Scott LaPlace,
2B Kevin Brown, 3B Zach Zilwa
Start: 8:08 p.m. Time: 2:20. Attendance: 8,246
Weather: Cloudy, 82 degrees, 8 mph wind (l-r)
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