Base 4A SEMISTATE: Roncalli 8, #11 New Palestine 3

From Hancock County Sports

The New Palestine Dragons' run through the IHSAA Class 4A tournament ended one game short of the State Finals, as they fell to the Roncalli Rebels 8-3 Saturday afternoon in the Plainfield semistate.

Roncalli jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first three innings before Reid Clark's two-run homer in the fourth -- his first of the year -- cut the lead in half. The Rebels added four more runs in the seventh to put the game away.

Roncalli senior Collin Hawk -- whose one pitching loss on the year came to New Palestine on April 18 -- threw a complete game, allowing seven hits, two earned runs and striking out five.

Hawk walked to start the game and scored the first run, and his team never trailed after that. He was followed by Joe Simpson's single. Roncalli used smallball to score its first four runs -- as the two were bunted into scoring position for a 2-run base hit by Nick Wright on a line drive up the middle.

Roncalli added another run in the second on a leadoff hit batsman, sacrifice bunt and RBI hit by Brad Fey. It became 4-0 in the third on a leadoff walk, sacrifice bunt and RBI base hit by Jordan Reeser. Roncalli loaded the bases later that inning, but NP's Brian Page got out of the jam with two strikeouts, then set down seven straight Rebels to keep his team in the game.

In the fourth, Jacob Barnes reached on an error before Clark launched a pitch over the fence to straightaway rightfield to cut the deficit to 4-2. Connor Swain followed with a base hit, but one of the Rebels' three doubleplays ended the threat.

Nick Ulrey led off the Dragons' fifth with a double to right-center, but three groundouts kept him from scoring and kept the game at 4-2, where it would stay until the seventh. Roncalli led off with a disputed infield hit on a close play at first base, then four walks, a wild pitch with the bases loaded and a two-run single by Fey made it an 8-2 game.

NP tried to rally in the bottom of the inning: Swain and Cameron Clark led off with hits, and Ulrey doubled Swain home with a shot to the rightfield corner. The Dragons would load the bases, but a line-drive doubleplay ended the game and sent Roncalli to the State Finals.

Page took the loss, the first of a career that saw him go 18-1. He allowed five runs and seven hits over 6 1/3 innings. Reid Clark finished the game in relief.

Roncalli outhit the Dragons 8-7 and committed two errors to the Dragons' none, but NP pitching allowed eight walks and two hit batsmen, while Hawk walked just one.

New Palestine finishes the year 25-7, having won the HHC, sectional and regional titles. Roncalli is 23-8 and will play No. 1 Lake Central for the state title next week. Page, Barnes, Reid Clark, Alex Rejer, Alec Shull, Stephen Ochs and Ryan Evans finish their careers by extending the school's streak of HHC titles to nine, and winning two regional titles in the last three years.