Varsity Baseball

BASEBALL: Two-out rallies carry Knights over Hornets

Rossville gets one-hit by third-ranked LCC

By Phil Friend

LAFAYETTE - Rossville had no problem getting the first two outs in innings during Monday's Class A Sectional 53 semifinal game against third-ranked Lafayette Central Catholic.

But that pesky third out proved to be troublesome for the Hornets.

The Knight scoring rallies in the first, second and fourth innings all began with two outs and nobody on base. In all, LCC scored 11 runs in those three innings, and that was more than enough as the Knights beat Rossville, 13-2, in five innings.

"I told the team you've got to take a lesson from them," Rossville head coach Michael Gick said. "They're a good baseball team and their mental focus got completely tight when there were two outs. A couple plays here and there, a lot of those runs don't score. But a good team makes those things happen."

Jake Churchill powered the Knights (21-9) with a pair of two-runs homers, the latter coming off RHS reliever Charlie Nichols and ending the contest due to the 10-run rule. There was one out in the bottom of the fifth when Churchill went yard, ending the game with five RBI. It was Churchill's second and third homers of the year.

Ryan Deboy also hit a first-inning homer for the Knights.

Things looked good for Rossville (14-12) in the top of the first. Levi Moore started the game with a walk and Mason Roberts reached on a one-out error. The next batter, Nichols, hit into a fielder's choice, but Roberts was safe at second and Nichols beat the throw to first, allowing Moore to score for a 1-0 lead. Cullun Hack then delivered a RBI single to score Roberts and push Rossville's to lead to 2-0.

However, LCC starter Austin Munn settled in after that. He retired 10 straight batters before giving way to Andrew Hubertz in the fifth, who set the Hornets down 1-2-3.

"We let him off the hook, maybe swinging at some pitches that were out of the zone," Gick said.

After Deboy's 2-run blast in the bottom half tied the game at 2-2, the Knights put up four runs in the second. Hubertz kicked off the rally with a two-out triple and later scored when Cody Disinger had a line drive go off the heel of his glove that would've been the third out of the inning.

Nick Stone then delivered a RBI double to score Evan Kennedy and Churchill smashed his first home run to chase Roberts, who started the game.

It was more of the same in the fourth when Central Catholic scored five runs off six hits. Churchill and Brett Haan each had RBI doubles, Munn tallied a RBI single and catcher Devin Morgan singled to drive in the final two runs.

"We always talk about never giving up in an inning and never giving an at-bat away," Central Catholic head coach Tim Bordenet said. "A couple of times we were able to fire away with two outs and spark the rally."

Roberts (4-3) took the loss, allowing six runs on four hits with four strikeouts and a walk in 1 2/3 innings pitched. Galen Flory gave up five runs on five hits with a strikeout and two walks in 2 innings pitched and Charlie Nichols threw 2/3 of an inning, allowing two runs on three hits with a strikeout.

"The ball was jumping," Bordenet said. "They got it up and the ball was carrying. It worked out well for us."

Munn got the win for LCC, allowing two runs on one hit with five strikeouts and a walk.

"We'll set the bar even higher for next year," said Gick, whose Hornet roster loses Nichols, Matt Ummel and Kyle Cupp. "We've got a lot of guys committed to playing this summer and we'll try to do things so we're not taking a step back. We're going to keep growing this thing."