Base 4A REG. 4: #1 New Palestine 11, Jeffersonville 9 (championship)

By Hancock County Sports

Jacob Barnes' 2-run homer in the bottom of the 7th gave New Palestine an 11-9 win over Jeffersonville.

Reid Clark was the winning pitcher for NP, coming in during the 7th for his second stint, as Jeff rallied in the top of the inning with three runs to tie the game.

Barnes' blast was his ninth of the year -- four of which have been either game-tying or game-winning homers in the seventh innings of games. It came with two out in the seventh,, an inning that began when leadoff man Alec Shull was hit by a pitch. Two forceout later, Barnes came to the plate and crushed a pitch over the fence in straightaway leftfield at Bosse Field in Evansville.

It was NP's 10th last at-bat win and 12th come-from-behind win, as the Dragons improved to 25-6 on the season.

The Dragons will play Roncalli next at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, June 9 at the Plainfield semistate.

It was a wild game, with the Red Devils taking an early 2-0 lead when shortstop Drew Ellis hit a two-out solo homer and then two hits and a walk produced another run on Jeffersonville starting pitcher Nick Gallagher's RBI single.

NP took the lead in the third, starting with back-to-back walks and following with a bunt single by Brian Page before Barnes reached on an error, plating one run. Reid Clark's sacrifice fly plated another run, and then Cameron Clark's two-out RBI single made it 3-2 Dragons. A double-steal allowed Barnes to come across with the fourth run. But Jeff answered, taking advantge of three NP errors -- all with two out -- to score four unearned runs and take the lead back 6-4.

But it didn't last long: NP took the lead back in the bottom of the fourth with three unearned runs of its own. Two two-out walks and a dropped flyball allowed one run to score. Reid Clark's two-run single gave the Dragons a 7-6 lead. NP added two more in the fifth on RBI singles form Page and Reid Clark again.

Ryan Evans relieved Reid Clark in the fifth after back-to-back walks.

It stayed that way until the seventh, when Jeff scored three in the top of the inning: a leadoff walk to Chanse Oliver, a single by leadoff hitter Dalton Conway and an RBI double from Isaac Crafton plated one run. Clark came back on to replace Evans and finish off the game .Conway scored on a sacrifice fly, and then Crafton scored when Josh Burke hit a groundball single just past second base to tie the game.

Clark got the win in relief of his own start. He allowed nine hits and seven runs in 5 1/3 innings in two stints -- three runs earned. He had three strikeouts and four walks. Evans allowed two runs and walked four in 1 2/3 innings.

Jeff outhit NP 11-10 in the game.

Reid Clark -- now 7-2 on the year as a pitcher -- led NP with a 2-for-3 day and four RBI. Barnes had been 0-for-3 before his walkoff homer, his second walkoff HR on the year. He scored three times. Alex Rejer also had two hits and walked twice, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

Jeff was led by catcher Isaac Crafton, wo was 3-for-4 with two runs, a double and two RBI. Drew Ellis was 2-for-4 with a homer, a double, two runs and three RBI.