Triton Wins Class A Baseball Title
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
INDIANAPOLIS -ÊTriton baseball coach Jim Shively didn't go crazy over the state title, settling for jogging onto the field with arms raised. The grin that he always seems to wear was wider, for sure.
"Michael Jordan, John Elway and Jim Shively," he said. "We finished on top."
Triton dismantled Adams Central 13-0 in Saturday's Class A state finals at Victory Field. Shively, who announced he would resign after eight years as Triton coach following this season, leaves winning a state title in his last game.
That Triton (24-10) won by a 13-0 count shouldn't have been surprising.
The Trojans advanced to the title game by downing No. 4 Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (22-4), No. 1 Washington Township (31-2) and No. 3 Madison Shawe (30-5) in their previous three games. In Adams Central, Triton faced an unranked team that closed the regular season with five straight losses and a team that ends the year 20-13.
After a season that saw Triton start 3-6 and fail to crack the top 10 in the Class A poll conducted by the coaches' association, the Trojans can call themselves No. 1.
"We never got any votes to be in the state polls all year," Shively, a Triton graduate, said. "It shows baseball is a game of perseverance.
"We knew we had the talent to get here to state. Once we got here, it was just a matter of putting a couple of good games together."
Pitching, defense and small ball got the Trojans this far, and pitching, defense and small ball again carried them. Jake Burnett (5-2), the No. 2 starter on the team, pitched a complete-game three-hitter, striking out seven and walking none. His shutout followed ace Tyler Hensley's 1-0 shutout in Triton's first-round state opener against Madison Shawe. Burnett silenced Adams Central with his fastball, curve and cut fastball.
"I was totally confident once I got out here," Burnett said, "but I was nervous. I don't know how many times I went to the bathroom before the game."
The Flying Jets were a team with flaws, and Triton went to work exposing them. The Flying Jets couldn't hit Burnett, but they compounded that problem by committing five errors, allowing eight stolen bases, walking Triton batters and failing to make fielding adjustments that allowed the Trojans to turn the game into a bunt clinic.
"The score doesn't show how good this team is," Herb Bergman said. "It just wasn't our day, but I know people don't always like to hear that."
But the statistics indicate Adams Central had problems pitching and fielding all season, not just against Triton.
Adams Central allowed 63 unearned runs this season, more than any other of the final four 1A teams. And Adams Central starting pitcher Nick Houk had given up 69 walks in 59 1-3 innings.
Control problems undid Houk as he lasted 11 pitches and three batters.
He hit Burnett, walked Joe Potter and walked Hensley to start the top of the first. Of Houk's 11 pitches, one was a strike, and Bergman pulled him with the bases loaded and no outs.
Ked Hirschy entered but couldn't keep Triton from scoring. After striking out cleanup batter Landon Grubbs, he walked Hager Holbrook to give Triton the 1-0 lead. He struck out Matt Norman for the second out and seemed to minimize the damage when Bryan Watkins hit a grounder to shortstop.
But once first baseman Tim Hower caught the throw for what should have been the third out, Watkins jarred the ball loose in a collision at first, sending the ball up the right-field line and allowing Potter and Hensley to score to make it 3-0.
Hirschy retired Todd Blackford on a ground out to end the inning, but the Trojans already had three runs on no hits, a feat Triton also accomplished in an inning during the sectional championship game against LaCrosse.
The top of the first indicated it just may be Triton's day. The bottom of the first proved it would definitely be Triton's day.
Houk led off the bottom of the first by smashing a one-hop liner between first and second. Norman, Triton's second baseman, dove to his left, snaring the ball. The ball was headed into right field and almost took Norman along for the ride, but he made the stop and got the out.
Second hitter Curt Garwood worked the count to 3-0, but Burnett battled back to strike him out.
Third hitter Brian Butcher grounded out to Norman for the final out of the inning. Norman fielded two more grounders in the second inning as the ball found him early.
"Matt Norman was all over the place out there," Shively said. "That set the tone for the game. They think they are going to have somebody on base, then suddenly, they don't."
As the game went on, the Trojans proved they were the superior team. Burnett, who put down two bunt singles near the third-base line, backed his pitching by going 4 for 4 with two stolen bases, three runs and an RBI.
Potter went 2 for 4 and scored three runs, and both hits were bunts down the third-base line. Grubbs drove in two runs, and No. 9 hitter Tyson Blackford went 2 for 3 with a run and RBI.
Triton added two more runs in the fourth. Burnett delivered one of his bunt hits then stole second. Potter followed with a bunt single, sending Burnett to third. Burnett scored on a wild pitch, and Potter stole second and advanced to third on the wild pitch. Hensley hit a high chopper at the plate to score Potter.
Triton led 5-0 but none of the runs or RBIs came on balls hit to the outfield. The runs were results of walks, errors, wild pitches and bunts, small ball at its best.
The Trojans added on in the fifth. With one out, Norman stole second and stole third, and when catcher Travis Foster's low throw to third went into left field, Norman scored to make it 6-0. Watkins followed Norman by reaching on a fielding error on a grounder by third baseman Butcher. Dan Kuhn pinch ran for Watkins, stole second and scored on Tyson Blackford's single to left field.
The Trojans led 7-0, and the seventh run was the first run that came as a result of a ball hit by Triton that left the infield.
Triton wrapped up the game with six runs on five hits in the top of the seventh.
Adams Central never did make adjustments, as even in the last inning Burnett and Potter again reached on bunt singles down the third-base line as Butcher stayed back near the bag.
"Joe's our best bunter," Burnett said. "I don't know what Adams Central was thinking. We kept bunting on him, and he never did come up. Then we were able to steal because their pitcher was kind of slow to the plate."
The Flying Jets committed two more errors, both on throws to the plate.
After scoring once in the inning to make it 8-0, Triton loaded the bases. Butcher fielded a grounder hit by Hensley and tried to get the force at home, only to throw the ball into the dirt, allowing Tyson Blackford to score. With the bases still loaded, Grubbs singled into left field to score Burnett, but Potter and Hensley followed him when left fielder Ryan Bedwell's throw missed the cut-off man, missed the catcher and hit the backstop.
Grubbs moved to third during the shenanigans then scored the 13th run on a Holbrook sacrifice fly.
"The team that makes the most mistakes will lose in this tourney," Bergman said. "The first inning, we made some costly mistakes. I don't know if we got down or what, but our guys didn't rebound."
With the way Burnett was pitching, all Triton needed was one run.
"I like to have the pressure on my shoulders," Burnett said, "because I like to think of myself as a clutch player. You can't come through every single time, but I guess it was my day. Our defense, everybody on the field was great. I have them to thank for the win."
And Shively has his team to thank for sending him out with a win. While Shively's done coaching high school baseball for now as he wants to coach his sons in little league, like Michael Jordan, he left open the possibility of a future return.
"I knew going into the year we had something here," he said. "It was just a matter of time and getting the job done. I knew Tyler would get the job done pitching for us, and I thought Jake would come through. That's a solid one-two punch at pitcher. That was the key to our season."
It's a season where the Triton Trojans can call themselves No. 1.
TRITON 13, ADAMS CENTRAL 0
Triton ab r h rbi
Burnett p 4 3 4 1
Potter c 4 3 2 0
Hensley ss 4 2 1 1
Grubbs rf 5 1 1 2
Holbrook 1b 2 0 0 2
Norman 2b 4 1 1 0
Watkins 3b 4 0 0 0
Kuhn pr 0 1 0 0
Td. Blackford lf 4 1 1 0
Tn. Blackford cf 3 1 2 1
Totals 34 13 12 7
Adams Central ab r h rbi
Houk p-ss 3 0 0 0
Garwood 3b-rf 4 0 0 0
Butcher ss-3b 2 0 0 0
Hirschy rf-p 3 0 1 0
Smith dh 3 0 0 0
Foreman cf 2 0 0 0
Gleason ph 1 0 0 0
Hower 1b 3 0 2 0
Martinez pr 0 0 0 0
J. Foster 2b-p 2 0 0 0
Brandsteter ph 1 0 0 0
Bedwell lf 2 0 0 0
T. Foster c 0 0 0 0
Totals 26 0 3 0
Triton (24-10) 300 220 6 - 13
A. Central (20-13) 000 000 0 - 0
E - Norman, Watkins, Butcher, Hirschy, Hower, Bedwell, T. Foster. LOB -ÊTriton 8, Adams Central 8. 2B - Td. Blackford. SB -ÊBurnett 2, Norman 2, Potter, Hensley, Tn. Blackford, Kuhn. SF -ÊHolbrook.
IP H R ER BB SO
Triton
Burnett W, 5-2 7 3 0 0 0 7
Adams Central
Houk L, 4-8 0 0 3 1 2 0
Hirschy 5 6 4 2 2 3
J. Foster 2 6 6 3 0 2
WP - Burnett, Hirschy. PB - Potter. HBP -ÊBurnett (by Houk), Holbrook (by Hirschy), Norman (by Hirschy), Butcher (by Burnett), Bedwell (by Burnett), Houk (by Burnett).
Houk faced 3 batters in the 1st. [[In-content Ad]]
INDIANAPOLIS -ÊTriton baseball coach Jim Shively didn't go crazy over the state title, settling for jogging onto the field with arms raised. The grin that he always seems to wear was wider, for sure.
"Michael Jordan, John Elway and Jim Shively," he said. "We finished on top."
Triton dismantled Adams Central 13-0 in Saturday's Class A state finals at Victory Field. Shively, who announced he would resign after eight years as Triton coach following this season, leaves winning a state title in his last game.
That Triton (24-10) won by a 13-0 count shouldn't have been surprising.
The Trojans advanced to the title game by downing No. 4 Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (22-4), No. 1 Washington Township (31-2) and No. 3 Madison Shawe (30-5) in their previous three games. In Adams Central, Triton faced an unranked team that closed the regular season with five straight losses and a team that ends the year 20-13.
After a season that saw Triton start 3-6 and fail to crack the top 10 in the Class A poll conducted by the coaches' association, the Trojans can call themselves No. 1.
"We never got any votes to be in the state polls all year," Shively, a Triton graduate, said. "It shows baseball is a game of perseverance.
"We knew we had the talent to get here to state. Once we got here, it was just a matter of putting a couple of good games together."
Pitching, defense and small ball got the Trojans this far, and pitching, defense and small ball again carried them. Jake Burnett (5-2), the No. 2 starter on the team, pitched a complete-game three-hitter, striking out seven and walking none. His shutout followed ace Tyler Hensley's 1-0 shutout in Triton's first-round state opener against Madison Shawe. Burnett silenced Adams Central with his fastball, curve and cut fastball.
"I was totally confident once I got out here," Burnett said, "but I was nervous. I don't know how many times I went to the bathroom before the game."
The Flying Jets were a team with flaws, and Triton went to work exposing them. The Flying Jets couldn't hit Burnett, but they compounded that problem by committing five errors, allowing eight stolen bases, walking Triton batters and failing to make fielding adjustments that allowed the Trojans to turn the game into a bunt clinic.
"The score doesn't show how good this team is," Herb Bergman said. "It just wasn't our day, but I know people don't always like to hear that."
But the statistics indicate Adams Central had problems pitching and fielding all season, not just against Triton.
Adams Central allowed 63 unearned runs this season, more than any other of the final four 1A teams. And Adams Central starting pitcher Nick Houk had given up 69 walks in 59 1-3 innings.
Control problems undid Houk as he lasted 11 pitches and three batters.
He hit Burnett, walked Joe Potter and walked Hensley to start the top of the first. Of Houk's 11 pitches, one was a strike, and Bergman pulled him with the bases loaded and no outs.
Ked Hirschy entered but couldn't keep Triton from scoring. After striking out cleanup batter Landon Grubbs, he walked Hager Holbrook to give Triton the 1-0 lead. He struck out Matt Norman for the second out and seemed to minimize the damage when Bryan Watkins hit a grounder to shortstop.
But once first baseman Tim Hower caught the throw for what should have been the third out, Watkins jarred the ball loose in a collision at first, sending the ball up the right-field line and allowing Potter and Hensley to score to make it 3-0.
Hirschy retired Todd Blackford on a ground out to end the inning, but the Trojans already had three runs on no hits, a feat Triton also accomplished in an inning during the sectional championship game against LaCrosse.
The top of the first indicated it just may be Triton's day. The bottom of the first proved it would definitely be Triton's day.
Houk led off the bottom of the first by smashing a one-hop liner between first and second. Norman, Triton's second baseman, dove to his left, snaring the ball. The ball was headed into right field and almost took Norman along for the ride, but he made the stop and got the out.
Second hitter Curt Garwood worked the count to 3-0, but Burnett battled back to strike him out.
Third hitter Brian Butcher grounded out to Norman for the final out of the inning. Norman fielded two more grounders in the second inning as the ball found him early.
"Matt Norman was all over the place out there," Shively said. "That set the tone for the game. They think they are going to have somebody on base, then suddenly, they don't."
As the game went on, the Trojans proved they were the superior team. Burnett, who put down two bunt singles near the third-base line, backed his pitching by going 4 for 4 with two stolen bases, three runs and an RBI.
Potter went 2 for 4 and scored three runs, and both hits were bunts down the third-base line. Grubbs drove in two runs, and No. 9 hitter Tyson Blackford went 2 for 3 with a run and RBI.
Triton added two more runs in the fourth. Burnett delivered one of his bunt hits then stole second. Potter followed with a bunt single, sending Burnett to third. Burnett scored on a wild pitch, and Potter stole second and advanced to third on the wild pitch. Hensley hit a high chopper at the plate to score Potter.
Triton led 5-0 but none of the runs or RBIs came on balls hit to the outfield. The runs were results of walks, errors, wild pitches and bunts, small ball at its best.
The Trojans added on in the fifth. With one out, Norman stole second and stole third, and when catcher Travis Foster's low throw to third went into left field, Norman scored to make it 6-0. Watkins followed Norman by reaching on a fielding error on a grounder by third baseman Butcher. Dan Kuhn pinch ran for Watkins, stole second and scored on Tyson Blackford's single to left field.
The Trojans led 7-0, and the seventh run was the first run that came as a result of a ball hit by Triton that left the infield.
Triton wrapped up the game with six runs on five hits in the top of the seventh.
Adams Central never did make adjustments, as even in the last inning Burnett and Potter again reached on bunt singles down the third-base line as Butcher stayed back near the bag.
"Joe's our best bunter," Burnett said. "I don't know what Adams Central was thinking. We kept bunting on him, and he never did come up. Then we were able to steal because their pitcher was kind of slow to the plate."
The Flying Jets committed two more errors, both on throws to the plate.
After scoring once in the inning to make it 8-0, Triton loaded the bases. Butcher fielded a grounder hit by Hensley and tried to get the force at home, only to throw the ball into the dirt, allowing Tyson Blackford to score. With the bases still loaded, Grubbs singled into left field to score Burnett, but Potter and Hensley followed him when left fielder Ryan Bedwell's throw missed the cut-off man, missed the catcher and hit the backstop.
Grubbs moved to third during the shenanigans then scored the 13th run on a Holbrook sacrifice fly.
"The team that makes the most mistakes will lose in this tourney," Bergman said. "The first inning, we made some costly mistakes. I don't know if we got down or what, but our guys didn't rebound."
With the way Burnett was pitching, all Triton needed was one run.
"I like to have the pressure on my shoulders," Burnett said, "because I like to think of myself as a clutch player. You can't come through every single time, but I guess it was my day. Our defense, everybody on the field was great. I have them to thank for the win."
And Shively has his team to thank for sending him out with a win. While Shively's done coaching high school baseball for now as he wants to coach his sons in little league, like Michael Jordan, he left open the possibility of a future return.
"I knew going into the year we had something here," he said. "It was just a matter of time and getting the job done. I knew Tyler would get the job done pitching for us, and I thought Jake would come through. That's a solid one-two punch at pitcher. That was the key to our season."
It's a season where the Triton Trojans can call themselves No. 1.
TRITON 13, ADAMS CENTRAL 0
Triton ab r h rbi
Burnett p 4 3 4 1
Potter c 4 3 2 0
Hensley ss 4 2 1 1
Grubbs rf 5 1 1 2
Holbrook 1b 2 0 0 2
Norman 2b 4 1 1 0
Watkins 3b 4 0 0 0
Kuhn pr 0 1 0 0
Td. Blackford lf 4 1 1 0
Tn. Blackford cf 3 1 2 1
Totals 34 13 12 7
Adams Central ab r h rbi
Houk p-ss 3 0 0 0
Garwood 3b-rf 4 0 0 0
Butcher ss-3b 2 0 0 0
Hirschy rf-p 3 0 1 0
Smith dh 3 0 0 0
Foreman cf 2 0 0 0
Gleason ph 1 0 0 0
Hower 1b 3 0 2 0
Martinez pr 0 0 0 0
J. Foster 2b-p 2 0 0 0
Brandsteter ph 1 0 0 0
Bedwell lf 2 0 0 0
T. Foster c 0 0 0 0
Totals 26 0 3 0
Triton (24-10) 300 220 6 - 13
A. Central (20-13) 000 000 0 - 0
E - Norman, Watkins, Butcher, Hirschy, Hower, Bedwell, T. Foster. LOB -ÊTriton 8, Adams Central 8. 2B - Td. Blackford. SB -ÊBurnett 2, Norman 2, Potter, Hensley, Tn. Blackford, Kuhn. SF -ÊHolbrook.
IP H R ER BB SO
Triton
Burnett W, 5-2 7 3 0 0 0 7
Adams Central
Houk L, 4-8 0 0 3 1 2 0
Hirschy 5 6 4 2 2 3
J. Foster 2 6 6 3 0 2
WP - Burnett, Hirschy. PB - Potter. HBP -ÊBurnett (by Houk), Holbrook (by Hirschy), Norman (by Hirschy), Butcher (by Burnett), Bedwell (by Burnett), Houk (by Burnett).
Houk faced 3 batters in the 1st. [[In-content Ad]]