By Pete Cava

PBR Indiana Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS– “Back to Back Sectional Champions,” read the black T-shirts worn by Northview fans at Saturday’s Class 3A Regional 7 on the Indianapolis Northside. And the defending state champions made it happen with victories over host Brebeuf Jesuit and Tri-West Hendricks.  

Braydon Tucker and Luke Lancaster came through with complete-game victories for coach Craig Trout, who guided the Knights to a 2-1 triumph over Western in last year 3A state championship game.  

“Back-to-back Regionals now, after back-to-back Sectionals,” said Trout, in his fourth year as Northview’s skipper. “So for us, that’s something to hang our hat on.”  

Northview advances to next Saturday’s Semi-state competition, either at Plainfield or Jasper. IHSAA is expected to make the announcement Monday.  Semi-State winners go on to the championship round at Victory Field, June 16-17.  

Brebeuf Jesuit's athletic department staged Saturday’s Regional tournament on short notice. On Tuesday, IHSAA shifted the event from Crawfordsville to the Braves' Father O'Brien Field due to storm-related damage at the Athenians' home park. 

GAME 1 – TRI-WEST HENDRICKS 3, INDIAN CREEK 2 

Mason Cox came on in relief to get the final out as the Bruins edged the Braves. Cox, Tri-West's designated hitter, saved the game for junior right-hander Zach Waters, who started for the Bruins and doled out six hits and two walks while striking out four. 

Tri-West (18-6) scored three times in the top of the first. Carter Cooper led off with a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Lucas Goodin, the next hitter, drove in the Bruins’ first run with a sharp single that skipped under the glove of Indian Creek's first baseman. Derek Wagner's liner to right sent Goodin to third, and he scampered home on a wild throw by the Braves right fielder. Wagner advanced to second on the error. 

Indian Creek starter Jared DeHart retired the next two batters, but Quentin Cooper, pinch-running for Wagner, took third and scored on two more wild pitches. 

Eric Braughton's homer in the bottom of the second made it 3-1. The Braves' 6-foot-4, 215-pound senior first baseman powered the first pitch he saw from Waters over the left field fence. DeHart regained his composure after the bumpy start and retired the next 11 Tri-West batters. 

Waters broke the spell in the bottom of the fourth with a leadoff double to left. When Tanner Freije's bunt single put runners at the corners, Indian Creek skipper Eddy Wells replaced DeHart with right-hander Trevor Ankney. Ankney had started the game as the Braves DH. 

With Carter Cooper at the plate, Freije stole second. Ankney, a sophomore righty, fanned the next two batters and issued an intentional walk to Derek Wagner to fill the sacks. Ankney ended the threat by retiring Mason Cox on a foul out to first. 

Trafalgar-based Indian Creek (14-8-1) cut the deficit to 3-2 in the last of the fifth. Cody Grider opened with a double, moved to third on an infield out and scored on a grounder to third by Max Walls. 

Waters set down the first two Indian Creek batters in the bottom of the sixth. But a single by Cody Grider, along with a stolen base, a throwing error and a walk to DeHart, put runners at the corners for the Braves. 

That ended Waters' day. Tri-West coach Ryan Oppy summoned Cox, a burly right-hander called “Moose” by his teammates. Cox got the next batter on a fly to left to end the one-hour, twenty-minute contest. 

“We got the first three (runs) in the first inning on a few of their mistakes,” Oppy said. “(Indian Creek) came back hard every inning. I feel like we had to defend well, and our guys stepped up. (Indian Creek) is a good-hittin' ballclub. They've got some guys who can hit, and hit for power. And they can play small ball as well. We stepped up, and I'm really proud of them.”

After opening the 2017 season with five consecutive defeats, Tri-West went on to win 18 of its next 19 games. The Lizton school's hadn’t lost since April 25. 

GAME 2 – NORTHVIEW 4, BREBEUF JESUIT 0

Junior right-hander Braydon Tucker scattered seven hits and survived a bases-loaded seventh-inning scare to send the boys from Brazil to the Regional title game. 

Tucker, who started and won last year's Class 3A championship game for the Knights at Victory Field, struck out four Braves batters and didn't allow a walk in the one-hour, 51-minute contest. 

The Indiana U. commit said he relied on a four-seam fastball to right-handed batters and a two-seamer to lefties. “And then I'd throw my twelve-six curve,” he added. “Sometimes I threw a cutter and I threw one changeup.”

Tucker helped himself to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound left-handed hitter came to the plate with one out in the wake of a single by Trey Shaw and an infield out. After working the count full against Brebeuf Jesuit lefty John Nierman, Tucker singled to right for the game's first run. 

Northview (24-3) struck again in the bottom of the third. Mitchell Howald opened the inning with a single and Trey Shaw walked. Nierman retired the next two Knights hitters, with Howald taking third on a foul fly to right. Brigham Booe followed with a double off the wall in left that brought in Howald. Attempting to score from first, Shaw was cut down at the plate, but the Knights now had a 2-0 cushion. 

Brebeuf Jesuit (17-15) handed the Knights a run in the bottom of the fifth. Howald drew a walk and with two gone, Matt Clawson singled to left.  It looked like the Braves were out of the inning when Tucker grounded to the right side, but the ball dribbled through the legs of Brebeuf Jesuit's second baseman and Howald raced home to make it 3-0. 

Brebeuf Jesuit skipper Jeremy Sassanella relieved Nierman with Will Richman in the bottom of the sixth. Luke Lancaster greeted the right-handed junior with a blast off the left field fence that rolled under the tarp for a ground-rule double. After Lancaster took third on a wild pitch, Richman retired the next two men. Pinch-hitter Andrew Osborn grounded to short, but the throw sailed over the first baseman's head and Lancaster flew home with the Knights' fourth run. 

Brebeuf Jesuit refused to go quietly. The Braves loaded the bases with two out in the seventh on singles by Bo Richey and Sean Swanson, and an infield hit by Richman. Tucker sent the Knights to the championship game by striking out the next batter. 

Tucker admitted to some acid indigestion in that ructious seventh inning. “We started to lean toward my curve ball to try to get them off the feel a little bit,” he said. “When they started catching it out front for hits, I just decided to go back to my fastball.” 

CHAMPIONSHIP – NORTHVIEW 3, TRI-WEST HENDRICKS 1

Senior right-hander Luke Lancaster brought the Knights (25-3) a step closer to repeat engagement at the state finals, limiting the Bruins (18-7) to three hits and pitching shutout ball into the final frame. 

Lancaster, a tricky sidearm specialist with more deliveries than FedEx, traded blanks over the first two innings with Bruins senior righty Nick Rabe. 

With two gone in the top of the third, Tri-West had a runner ninety feet from home plate after Dawson Wolfe blooped a single to left and stole third. Lancaster retired the next batter on a fly to left to thwart the Bruins. 

Northview broke the deadlock in the bottom of the third. Andrew Osborn was hit by a pitch and Mitchell drew a walk. One out later, Matt Clawson singled to left, plating Osborn for a 1-0 lead. 

The Knights made it 2-0 in their half of the fourth.  Brigham Booe started the rally with a double off the fence in left, and Jayden Lindsay ran for him. Rabe retired the next two men, but Alex Reinoehl singled to left to score Lindsay. 

Trey Shaw opened Northview's half of the fifth with a triple down the left field line. Rabe worked out of the fix by sitting down the next three Knights. 

He wasn't as lucky in the sixth, when Northview filled the bases on Lancaster's single to left, Hayden France's bunt single and a dropped throw at first on Alex Reinoehl's sac bunt. Rabe got the next two men, but walked Trey Shaw on a full count to force in courtesy runner Braden Nevins.  

Tri-West clawed back in the top of the seventh. Mason Cox led off for the Bruins and was hit by a pitch. Quinton Cooper ran for Cox, stole second, and then moved to third on an infield out. Jarrett Roseboom followed with a sac fly to left that brought in Cooper. When Phillip Smith smashed a double to deep center, Tri-West had the tying run at the plate.  

Lancaster got the next batter on a pop-up to short to give Northview its second Regional crown in as many years.  

Relying on a changeup, an over-the-top curve, a sidearm curve, a submarine curve – not to mention fastballs from all those same places – the 6-foot-2, 205 pound Lancaster notched six strikeouts and no walks while hitting one batter. 

“I thought Lancaster did a great job on the mound,” said Coach Trout. “It’s hard, as a hitter, to pick up a fine point of where that ball’s going to be released. His pitches sit right around 80 (mph), his fastball has a lot of run, and the curve ball has a lot of bite.”

Trout said Saturday’s win was hard-fought, and he expects stiff competition from here on. “You run into a great Tri-West team, and they gave us fits,” he said. “I think at this point in the tournament, everybody’s bringing their A-game and definitely playing their best baseball.” 

Pete Cava is the author of “Tales From the Cubs Dugout” and “Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players: A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014.”