2001-02 IHSAA Baseball State Tournament Series
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2001-02 IHSAA Baseball State Tournament Series State Finals Summary Munster, Vincennes Lincoln, Manchester and Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian were the final survivors as each won the first baseball state titles in their respective histories during the 36th Annual IHSAA Baseball State Finals on June 14-15, 2002 at Victory Field in Indianapolis. A total of 377 teams and 6,484 students began playing in the sectional tournaments this year. Class 4A Big Fourth Inning Spurs Munster To Class 4A Crown Munster High School struck for two big innings in winning the IHSAA Class 4A State Baseball Championship 9-1 over Evansville North at Victory Field in Indianapolis. Evansville North struck first in the bottom of the opening frame as Zachary Anderson doubled to right driving home Shane Kneer, who had led off the game with a walk. Meanwhile, North pitcher, senior Jody Chapman, rolled through the first three innings, allowing no hits and striking out two before Munster’s Matt Gornal and Mike Kalina opened up the fourth inning with back-to-back singles up the middle. Mike Rosen flied out to right, with Gornal advancing to third. Brad Nykiel followed with another long fly ball to right that scored Gornal to tie the game. Kurt Neil then belted a triple that bounced off the right centerfield wall at about the 380' mark, scoring Kalina. Kevin Kutansky put the ball in the identical location for another triple, scoring Neil. Munster continued to threaten as a fielding error kept the inning alive scoring another and putting Munster on top 4-1. The situation did not improve for the Huskies as the number-nine hitter in the Munster lineup, Dan Strzempka, started off the fifth with a single to right. He moved over to third base following a sacrifice bunt and a grounder and then scored on a wild- pitch to give Munster a 5-1 advantage. Munster added some icing to the cake in the top of the sixth with three consecutive singles from Neil, Kutansky and Gibbs knocking home a pair. Cameron was then hit by a pitch and Strzempka moved the runners over with a sacrifice bunt. Gornal then singled to right driving in two more runs. For Munster, it was the school’s first state championship since 1980 and the first in a sport other than swimming, in which they have 10 titles — seven in boys swimming and three in girls. It was also the second consecutive appearance in the baseball state finals for the Mustangs, who fell to eventual state champion Penn, 7-1, in last year’s state semifinals. The two triples in the contest by Munster’s Kurt Keil and Kevin Kutansky set a new 4A mark. Unranked Munster (25-9), under head coach Bob Shinkan, had battled its way into the finals with a 9-4 victory over second- ranked Logansport, who had their 26-game winning streak snapped. Evansville North (25-5), under the guidance of Dan Sparrow, was in championship game play by virtue of an 11-7 win over Lawrence Central on Friday. Kyle Smith of Evansville North High School was selected by the IHSAA Executive Committee as the winner of the Class 4A Baseball L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award. Class 3A Alices Shut Down Bellmont In Title Game Vincennes Lincoln High School captured its first-ever state baseball championship defeating Bellmont, 4-0, in the 2002 IHSAA 3A Baseball Championship at Victory Field in Indianapolis. The first 3 1/2 innings were scoreless, as the pitching of Bryan Rumple of Bellmont and David Mattingly of Vincennes Lincoln were the dominant factors in the game, with the Braves scratching out a trio of hits and the Alices only a pair. That changed in the bottom of the fourth, as Mitch Prout led off with a triple over the left fielder’s head and then came home head first on a wild pitch strikeout with Levi Salters at the plate. Vincennes Lincoln, coached by Brandon Pfoff, put the game away in the bottom of the sixth as Zak Blemker opened up with a single to center and Prout followed with a shot to left. Cleveland Upton then sacrificed both runners up a base. However, Salters hit a chopper in front of the plate that was handled by the pitcher, Rumple, who threw to the third baseman, who tagged the runner out. It appeared Bellmont might escape the inning, but the next batter, Mattingly, blasted a shot to right that the rightfielder couldn’t handle, driving in two runs. Neuman then followed with a double on a towering fly over the leftfielder’s head, driving in pinch runner J.D. LeGout to complete the three run scoring for the inning. In the top of the seventh, Bellmont got their leadoff hitter, Nate Colclasure, on base with a single, but he was wiped out in a double play and Linder struck out looking to end the game. For Vincennes Lincoln (25-8), it was the third state championship in the school’s history, having won boys state basketball titles in 1923 and 1981. The Alices had moved to the championship game with a 5-2 win over Plymouth on Friday. Bellmont (23-8), coached by Jon Stevens, had moved on with a 15-2, five-inning victory over Delta that same evening. Mitchell Prout of Vincennes Lincoln High School was selected by the IHSAA Executive Committee as winner of the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award in Class 3A Baseball. Class 2A Cinderella Manchester Rides Momentum To School’s First State Championship The surprising Manchester Squires (14-16), a team which lost 13 of its first 17 games surprised the Class 2A baseball world with an impressive, free-swinging 9-8 victory over third-ranked Batesville for its first state title in school history at Victory Field in Indianapolis. Batesville (27-5) jumped off to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning as starting pitcher Stephen Meyer singled up the middle to drive in Eric Neumeier with the game’s first run and Brandon Jewell followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Joe Hartman to send the Bulldogs out in front. Manchester exploded for six runs in the bottom of the opening inning as the first three players to the plate, Jediah Carandante, Anthony Sorg and Drew Walters, all reached and scored. By the end of inning number one, Todd Dale, Nathan Bucher and Adam Young had also crossed the plate as the Squires sent 10 men to bat, banging out four hits to go along with one Batesville error. Batesville got back on the board in the top of the second as Jeremy Owens walked, stole second and scored on Sam Simons single to left, making it 6-3. Neither team scored in the third, but Manchester got busy again in the bottom of the fourth scoring three on an RBI from Staton and two from Dale to increase the margin to 9-3. Batesville came charging back in the top of inning five, with a triple to right center from Hartman to drive in two runs. Meyer knocked in another with a sacrifice fly. Josh Gutzwiller then tripled to left to bring home the fourth run of the inning, making it 9-7, Manchester. The Bulldogs, coached by John Rigney, added one more in the sixth as Mark Stacy tripled and scored, making it 9-8, but that was the end of the line for Batesville. The Bulldogs had a baserunner on first with no outs, but a great throw by the Manchester catcher picked him off base. Manchester, coached by Jack Rupley, thus becomes only the second team in IHSAA sports history to win a title with a sub- .500 record, joining Rossville which won the Class A baseball title in 2000 with a 15-17 mark. Manchester advanced to the championship contest via a 6-5 semifinal victory over Taylor on Friday, while Batesville earned its berth following a 7-2 win over Evansville Mater Dei. Drew Walters, a member of the Class 2A state championship Manchester team was selected by the IHSAA Executive Committee as winner of the Class 2A Baseball L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award. Class A Two Rain Delays Don’t Deter Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian From Small School Title In a game interrupted twice by lightning and rain in the vicinity of Victory Field in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian, thanks to a four-run explosion in the bottom of the fifth inning, wrapped up its first state baseball title with a 7-3 win over Tecumseh in the Class A championship game. With the game tied at 3-3, in the bottom of the fifth, Tecumseh committed a pair of errors that loaded the bases for Blackhawk Christian. Following a pitching change that brought Trae Dauby to the mound, Logan Nussbaum immediately hit a two-run single to give Blackhawk a 5-3 lead. At that point, the rains hit Victory Field and play was halted for some 30 minutes. After the resumption of play and two outs, Kyle Wright’s bloop double to right scored both Nussbaum and Rick Gonser, who had walked to make it 7-3. Following a second rain delay at the end of the sixth inning which lasted an hour and 10 minutes, Brett Reilley took over the pitching duties for the Braves, who went on to the school’s first state championship. Reilley had pitched seven innings earlier in the day picking up a 2-1 win over Shakamak in the rain-delayed semifinal game at Decatur Central High School.