By Blake Hibler
Director of Scouting, PBR Indiana 

I will not put my name on any predictions in this regional as it appears to be completely up for grabs. Hamilton Southeastern, Lafayette Jefferson, FW Carroll, and Homestead all have a solid history in HS baseball, however, with the exception of Carroll none of them were hear last year. 

All four teams are very similar when you begin to look at the rosters. HSE features three good arms in Cody Christensen, Nathan Upchurch, and Steven Curry. Curry is the hardest thrower, touching 88 this past weekend. Upchurch has thrown the most recently, including starting two sectional games.

They Royals hit well at the top of the order with Cincinnati commit Tre Gantt leading the way. His supporting cast includes Mitch Roman, Matt Nash, and Steven Curry. It is a senior led group that right now has tons of confidence.

FW Carroll has been here and done that. On the mound they are paced by senior Mason Nueman and sophomore Grant Inman. Nueman is more of a pitcher than a power type arm. He is capable of shutting down lineups, while Inman is the harder thrower of the bunch, up to 87 last week.

Offensively, Drue Tranquill leads the Chargers. Grant Inman, Ross Koble, and Austin Starke add support. 

Homestead is the less known team in this Regional. Last year was supposed to be their year, but here they are this year. They are led by a good group of juniors including Joe Ault, Tyler Zimske and McLean Trieglaff . Ault and Trieglaff will be the two pitchers looked to lead the Spartans to a regional title. 

Lafayette Jeff comes into the regional after knocking off McCutcheon. Griff Clark is another really good pitcher. He shut down a solid McCutcheon lineup in the sectional final. The other arm is also really good and probably the number one in Peter Ripke. Both are low to mid 80's arms that can pitch. 

I have no prediction for this regional other than it will be one of the more exciting ones. Carroll is probably the most offensively talented team and HSE probably pitches it the best. If I had to pick I would give a slight edge to one of those two.