Page 26 - 2020-21 Baseball State Finals Program

Last Year’s State Finals in Review

Andrean Walks Off with Seventh State Championship

Andrean junior Mason Sannito singled in pinch runner
Robbie Ballentine in the bottom of the seventh inning to
give the 59ers a 2-1 victory over Edgewood in the Class 3A
championship game.
Ballentine pinch ran for Rigo Martinez, who led off the
inning with a double down the left field line off Edgewood
pitcher Luke Hayden to give the 59ers their seventh state
title. Andrean has now won two straight 3A championships
and four in the last six years.
The victory gave long-time coach Dave Pishkur his
seventh state title tying him with the late Ken Schreiber
of LaPorte and Lafayette Central Catholic’s Tim Bordenet
for the most in IHSAA history. Earlier this season, Pishkur
passed Schreiber as the all-time winningest coach in state
history. Today was his 1,014th victory.
Andrean finishes the season at 36-1, winning its final
35 games. The only loss came to Father Ryan High School
of Nashville, Tenn.
The dramatic ending to the only finals matchup of
the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked teams came after a classic
pitcher’s duel featuring Hayden and Andrean’s Michael
Doolin. Hayden was perfect through 3 1/3 innings and
finished with only three hits allowed and 10 strikeouts. Both
Andrean runs were unearned.
Doolin, the Vanderbilt recruit who won last year’s 3A
title game, allowed only four hits and one run, while striking
out 15 with one walk.
Edgewood (24-4) broke through in the sixth inning
on Coleman Sater’s two-out, RBI triple that scored Ethan
Vecrumba, who earlier reached on an infield single. The
59ers tied it in the bottom of the sixth when pinch runner
Ben Warren streaked home from third after Edgewood
misplayed a dropped third strike. The Mustangs committed
four errors in the game.
Edgewood coach Bob Jones was leading the Mustangs
into the state final for the first time in his 34-year tenure.
Royals Edge Olympians on Throwing Error to End Game
Anthony Eggers scored from second base on the sec-
ond error of the inning by Columbus East to give Hamilton
Southeastern a 3-2 victory in the Class 4-A state champion-
ship game.
Eggers reached on a bloop single over third base with
one out and advanced to second when Brayton Harrison
reached on an error. Clean-up hitter Greyson Droste then
bounced to second, where Columbus East’s Ben Major
flipped to short for the second out, but the shortstop’s throw
to first went wild allowing Eggers to score the winning run.
The Royals of coach Jeremy Sassanella captured the
state title in their first appearance and finished the season
on an 11-game winning streak.
Hamilton Southeastern (23-8) took a 1-0 lead in the
opening inning when Cole Dewael led off with a double
and scored on a Jack DeWolf single. The Olympians tied
it in the third on a two-out, RBI single by Julian Greenwell.
Columbus East left the bases loaded in that inning.
The Royals came back in the bottom of the third with
another RBI single by DeWolf that scored Harrison, who
just beat the throw to home plate.
Columbus East re-tied the game in the fifth as it put
runners on second and third with no out, chasing HSE
starter Michael Dillon. Left-hander Tyler Schweitzer
replaced Dillon and, two outs later, Parker Harrison’s sent
a nubber up the third base line and beat the throw to first,
allowing Jonah Wichman to score and make it 2-2.
That hit by Harrison was the only one allowed by
Schweitzer in three innings of relief. He struck out five.
Coach Jon Gratz’s Olympians saw a 12-game winning
streak snapped and finished 25-5.
26 IHSAA - Pure Spirit. Pure Sport!