By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana Correspondent

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Left-hander Will Conway kept Class 4A No. 1 Cathedral (15-0) undefeated, allowing one hit and striking out 13 in a 5-1 road win Thursday over Lawrence North. 

It was the second loss in as many days for the 4A No. 4 Wildcats (14-2), who suffered their first defeat Wednesday at Carmel.  

In a lefty-versus-lefty matchup, Josh Sampoll started for Lawrence North.  The 5-foot-9, 200-pound senior gave coach Richard Winzenread four solid innings, fanning three Irish batters while allowing five hits and one run.      

Cathedral went up 1-0 in the top of the second.  Clean-up hitter Jack Schmidt opened the inning with a line single to right and moved up on Evan Whigham’s sacrifice bunt.  One out later, Schmidt reached third when Nick Andriole singled off Sampoll’s glove.  Charlie Gomez plated Schmidt with a single through the hole at short. 

Conway, meanwhile, held Lawrence North hitless through the first four frames.  The 6-2, 180-lb. junior walked the first man he faced, but Gomez, Cathedral’s catcher, picked off the runner with a snap throw to first baseman Adam Neal.  Conway retired the next nine batters, striking out the side in the third and fourth innings. 

In the bottom of the fourth, Lawrence North had the tying run on second after a base on balls to Sampoll and a stolen base by courtesy runner Devin Williams.  Conway ended the threat by fanning the next two hitters. 

Justin Reed replaced Sampoll in the top of the fifth, moving to the mound from center

field.  The junior righty walked Cathedral leadoff hitter Brantley Johnson, who took second on Jared Poland’s hit to right.  Reed got the next batter on a double-play grounder to shortstop Tyler Hofmann, but Schmidt followed with a double that made it 2-0.  

Lawrence North cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth.  Coby Taylor singled to right for the Wildcats’ first hit, advanced on an infield out, and scored on back-to-back wild pitches. 

Cathedral struck again in its half of the sixth when Anthony Oeding – pinch-running for Andy Krull, who led off the frame with a walk – rode home on Reed’s wild pitch.  

In the top of the seventh the Irish put the game out of reach.  Schmidt looped a two-out single to left and advanced on a wild pitch.  Whigham’s infield hit put runners at the corners.  After Whigham stole second, Krull drove a 3-2 offering to right for a bases-clearing double that closed out the scoring. 

“I believe that was a fastball – outside fastball,” Krull said of his opposite-field shot.  “I was just trying to hang with two strikes.”   

With two out in the bottom of the seventh, the Wildcats had the tying run at the plate on an error and a walk.  But Conway slipped a called third strike past Drew Jones to end the one hour, 59-minute contest. 

Schmidt,who’ll play for Wayne State next year, led Rich Andriole’s crew with three hits in four trips to the plate.  Krull and Nick Andriole chipped in with two hits apiece.     

But it was Conway’s pitching that warmed the hearts of Irish fans on a chilly evening with strong, gusty winds out of the west. 

“My off-speed was working really well tonight,” said Conway, who gave credit to his teammates.  

“They made a lot of good plays behind me, when I wasn’t throwing strikes.  After I walked the first batter of the game, Charlie Gomez picked the guy off in the first inning.  That was a big play, and it changed the momentum for us.” 

Pete Cava is the author of Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players:  A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014, coming soon from McFarland Publishers.