KOKOMO — Terre Haute Post Wayne Newton Post 346 earned its 13th all-time team championship at the 2018 Indiana American Legion Baseball State Tournament.

Two games were plated Tuesday, July 31 in the rain at CFD Investments Stadium in Highland Park.

Floyds Knobs Post 42 topped Lafayette Post 11 by a 6-1 score then Terre Haute blanked Floyds Knobs 2-0.

With the title in the five-day, double-elimination event, Terre Haute advance to regional play, which begins Wednesday, Aug. 8 in Napoleon, Ohio. 

Terre Haute Post 346 2, Floyds Knobs Post 42 0 

“We are very flexible with our lineup,” says Terre Haute manager Tim Hayes, who watched his team go 4-1 in the five-day double-elimination event and outscore opponents 37-8. “And we’re really loaded with pitching.

“When you can bring in a guy like Luke Lancaster to throw the last game of the tournament, who throws 64 percent first-pitch strikes and strikes out four times the number of batters he walks, these are the stats I picked up when I made my decision.”

At the beginning of the summer, Lancaster was looked at as an option out of the Post 346 bullpen.

“But I knew we had something special in Luke, a right-hander who graduated from Northview High School and completed his freshman season at Vincennes University in the spring. “You don’t know when you assemble a team, really what you have until you get out there and start playing and practicing.

“There are a bunch of guys who exceeded my expectations.”

This team is made up of players who went to Northview, Terre Haute North Vigo Terre Haute South Vigo and West Vigo.

“With all the kids playing travel ball these days, you’ve got kind of ham-and-egg it,” says Hayes. “Another thing that makes this team special is the kids are close.”

“They have fun. We have kids that are role players and good teammates. We have to have those.”

Lancaster (748 pitches; 7 innings, 0 runs, one hit, 0 walks, 8 strikeouts), using multiple arm angles including submarine, went the distance Tuesday and faced three Floyds Knobs batters in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Stock ripped a one-out single to right field.

The game ended with a double play. Shortstop Brigham Booe caught a line drive and threw to first baseman Benji Downs to double off the runner.

Terre Haute left runners at first and second baseball in the top of scoreless seventh.

With two outs, right-hander Lucas McNew (106 pitches; 6 2/3 innings, 0 runs, 2 hits, 3 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts) reached the pitch count limit and was relieved by righty sidearmer Stock (who got the third out on a fly with one pitch).

Lancaster retired Floyds Knobs in order in the bottom of scoreless sixth two two groundouts and a strikeout.

Terre Haute tacked on another run with a Cameron Cook home run over the 25-foot-high fence in right in the top of the Terre Haute sixth to take a 2-0 lead.

Cook deposited a 2-1 McNew pitch for the circuit clout.

Floyds Knobs stranded a runner at first base against Lancaster in the bottom of scoreless fifth with dropped third strike, fly-out, groundout and strikeout.

Terre Haute went down on order against McNew in the top of scoreless fifth with a retired bunter and two strikeouts.

Lancaster retired Post 42 1-2-3 in the bottom of score-free fourth with a foul pop, fly-out and groundout.

Post 346 tallied the game’s first run against McNew in the top of the fourth.

Parker Bray led off with a single to right and went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Cook.

An RBI single to right from Conner Brown plated Bray.

Post 42 left a runner at first base against Lancaster in the bottom of a score-free third with a hit batsman, two groundouts and a fly-out/ Defense helped McNew keep Terre Haute scoreless in the top of the third.

Floyds Knobs third baseman Kellen Northam hustled for a foul pop for the first out.

McNew picked off a runner at first base for the second out.

The third out came when Floyds Knobs first baseman Stock scooped a throw from third sacker Northam.

Lancaster retired Floyds Knobs 1-2-3 in the bottom of the second with two fly-outs and a strikeout.

Post 346 stranded runners on the corners versus McNew in the top of scoreless second.

McNew mixed two walks with two strikeouts and a fly-out.

Post 42 left a runner at second base facing Lancaster in the bottom of score-free first.

After two strikeouts, McNew rapped a double over the left fielder’s head before xx Lancaster induced a foul pop-out.

Terre Haute left runners at first and second base against McNew in the top of scoreless first.

McNew fanned two batters and coerced an rally-killing groundout.

Floyds Knobs found itself playing for a state title after taking a year off of Legion ball in 2017. Except for Bube (who played for Taylor University in 2018), most of the squad included players who will still be in high school in 2018-19.

“We anticipate coming back,” says Floyds Knobs coach Chuck Latham. “We’re going to try really hard to get these kids together.”

Ricky Romans, who managed Post 42 for a decade, is the head coach at Charlestown High School and Latham is one of his assistants.

Floyds Knobs also drew from six other high schools — Borden, Clarksville Lanesville, Floyd Central, Henryville and Providence this season. 

Floyds Knobs Post 42 6, Lafayette Post 11 1 

Left-hander Ryan Robison (108 pitches; 6 2/3 innings, 1 run, 8 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts) was the winning pitcher for Post 42 with some help from righty Stock (1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts).

Lafayette used four pitchers — righties Drew Davidson (innings, runs, hits, walks, strikeouts) and Dylan Henning (innings, runs, hits, walks, strikeouts) and lefties Jacob Marin (innings, runs, hits, walks, strikeouts) and Alec Argo (innings, runs, hits, walks, strikeouts).

Robison set down the first two Post 11 batters in the in top of the seventh before he had to come out of the game because of the pitch count rule.

Sidearmer Stock took Robison’s place on the mound. Stock threw one pitch and got a game-ending fly-out.

Floyds Knobs tallied three runs attributed to lefty reliever Marin in the bottom of the sixth for a 6-1 lead.

Brady Latham drew a one-out walk and later scored on wild pitch.

A single down the line in right plated Brenden Bube (who singled to

left) and McNew (who walked).

That’s when Argo replaced Marin on the hill for Lafayette.

After a walk, Argo retired the next two hitters on a line drive and groundout.

Post 11 stranded runners at first and second base against Robison in top of scoreless sixth.

Marin and Austin Dunwoody both had singles to left with all three outs being strikeouts.

Post 42 produced one run against Marin in the bottom of the fifth for a 3-1 advantage.

Robison walked, Stock reached on an error and Alex Lozado walked before Northam served a single into right to drive in Robison.

A strikeout ended the threat with the bases loaded.

Lafayette scored one runs facing Robison in the top of the fifth to pull within 2-1.

The first two outs came on a double play — second baseman Bube to shortstop Latham first baseman Stock.

Ben Berenda’s two-out single to left plated Kollyn All (who led off the stanza with a single to center).

Floyds Knobs stranded a runner at second base versus Henning in the bottom of score-free fourth.

Northam produced a lead-off single to left and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Payton Settles.

The third out was a infield pop-up.

Post 11 left a runner at first base against Robison in top of a scoreless fourth.

Grant McCoy lashed a one-out single to right before Robison closed out the inning with a fly-out and pop-up.

Post 42 tallied one run against Henning in the bottom of the third for a 2-0 lead.

Latham reached on error to lead off the inning, moved to second base on a passed ball then third base on a sacrifice bunt by Bube.

Latham scored on a one-out single by center by McNew.

With an inning-ending strikeout by Henning, Floyds Knobs left runners at first and second base.

Lafayette left runners at second and third against Robison in top of the third.

The final out was a strikeout.

Post 42 scored the game’s first run against right-handed reliever Henning in the bottom of the second.

Robison singled to left, Stock singled to right and Lozado singled off the fence in right to plate Robison.

The second out came when Post 11 third baseman All threw to catcher Berenda to cut down the runner at the plate on a fielder’s choice.

Runners were left at second and third base when Henning coaxed a fly-out.

Post 11 stranded runners at first and second base against Robison in top of scoreless second.

Henning cracked a one-out single to center and Dunwoody reached on a two-out error before Robison registered a strikeout for the third out.

Floyds Knobs went down in order against Davidson in the bottom of a score-free first with a groundout, strikeout and fly-out.

Lafayette left the bases loaded against Robison in top of a scoreless first.

After two strikeouts, All lofted a two-out single and moved to second base on a wild pitch and Bobby Dearing and Jonathon LaGuire walked before Robison racked up his third strikeout of the frame.

“We had a good season,” says Lafayette manager Todd Dunwoody. “This was tough. We’ve been driving back and forth to Lafayette.”

Monday night’s game — a 3-2 walk-off win against Terre Haute — ended at 11:40 a.m. Post 11 was back at the stadium Tuesday morning to play in games that were moved up in order to dodge the worst of the weather.

“We had about three hours of sleep and we played today like a team that looked like it had three hours of sleep,” says Dunwoody. “We weren’t sharp and about a step slow.

“What we did last night when both teams were rested and playing hard, that was a tremendous example of the team we have.”

INDIANA AMERICAN LEGION STATE TOURNAMENT

Friday, July 7

Game 1: Lafayette Post 11 15, South Bend Post 151 1.

Game 2: Terre Haute Post 346 10, Lake Station Post 100 0.

Game 3: Floyds Knobs Post 42 15, Evansville Post 8 7.

Game 4: Kokomo Post 6 7, Cicero Post 341 1.

Saturday, July 28

Game 5: South Bend Post 151 4, Evansville Post 8 0.

Game 6: Lake Station Post 100 10, Cicero Post 321 5.

Game 7: Floyds Knobs Post 42 6, Lafayette Post 11 2.

Game 8: Terre Haute Post 346 9, Kokomo Post 6 2.

Sunday, July 29

Game 9: Lafayette Post 11 3, Lake Station Post 100 1.

Game 10: South Bend Post 151 3, Kokomo Post 6 2.

Game 11: Terre Haute Post 346 14, Floyds Knobs Post 42 3.

Monday, July 30

Game 12: Floyds Knobs Post 42 3, South Bend Post 151 1.

Game 13: Lafayette Post 11 3, Terre Haute Post 346 2.

Tuesday, July 31

Game 14: Floyds Knobs Post 42. 6 vs. Lafayette Post 11 1

Game 15 (CHAMPIONSHIP): Terre Haute Post 346 2, Floyds Knobs Post 42 0.

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