Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
UNION MILLS - Shortly after Triton's baseball players charged out on the field and mobbed one another at home plate, Triton athletic director Mike Byron reminded Triton coach Jim Shively of paperwork that would have to be completed for the coming week.
It was paperwork that indicated no way should Triton's baseball players be running, jumping, hooting and hollering over a regional title. Yet there the Trojans were, doing those exact things.
It was paperwork that indicated no way should Washington Township's baseball players be sitting in the dugout, eyes glazed over and staring in disbelief out at the melee on the field. Yet there the stunned Senators were, doing that exact thing.
Only one team - Triton - entered Saturday's South Central A Regional unranked in the class A poll, determined by the coaches' association.
When the day was over, Triton had demolished No. 4 Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian 10-4 in the first round then sent No. 1 Washington Township home after a 2-1 loss.
Washington Township boasted an impressive 31-1 record, and Fort Wayne Blackhawk was no slouch at 22-3, but Triton, now 22-10, owns the regional title and a trip to the state semifinals at Victory Field.
Triton, at one point 3-6 this season, will compete on the Indianapolis Indians' triple A baseball diamond. The Trojans play No. 3 Madison Shawe (30-4) at 10:30 a.m. Friday.
"This feels great," Shively said. "Last year we thought it was our time because we had two stud pitchers. It turns out we have two stud pitchers this year."
After using ace Tyler Hensley (11-4) in the 10-4 morning win, Shively gave the ball to Jake Burnett in the championship game.
Burnett's 3-2 record may not have overwhelmed the Washington Township Senators, but his stuff did. He pitched a complete-game two-hitter, striking out six and walking none in outdueling Hank Curry, who entered 11-1.
Last Saturday in the sectional, Burnett allowed five runs as Triton fell behind 5-3 against a 12-12 LaCrosse team; now he two-hits the No. 1 Class A team in the state.
"I felt like I was throwing a little harder today, and my curve was working better," Burnett said. "Most of their hitters crowded the plate, and they couldn't hit the inside pitch."
He didn't blow the ball by the Senators. He didn't have to, not the way his curve was on this day. Only five balls left the infield against Burnett, whose off-speed pitch baffled every hitter in the Senators' order and even the coach himself.
"Their pitcher did the job," Washington Township coach Randy Roberts said. "He was able to throw his curve for strikes. We've faced good pitchers and beat them around pretty good. I've walked away from some of those games wondering how we did that.
"I feel the same thing today about our hitters. I walk away wondering how we didn't hit today."
With the game tied at 1, the Senators' defense broke down and helped Triton win. The Senators committed three errors in the game, and all three came in the top of the fifth when Triton took the 2-1 lead.
Bryan Watkins reached first when shortstop Ken Stoner bobbled a ground ball. Todd Blackford reached first on a fielder's choice to Stoner, who forced Watkins out at second.
The ball kept finding Stoner. Tyson Blackford hit a grounder to Stoner and reached first on Stoner's wide throw to the bag, sending cousin Todd Blackford to second. Burnett delivered the winning run with a single to left field, scoring Todd Blackford. Tyson Blackford moved to third and Burnett to second when left fielder Vince Formossa overran the ball.
"Offensively, we just got enough," Shively said. "That's the way we've been doing it all year, just scoring enough runs to win."
"We just didn't hit the ball, and when you don't hit, you have to play perfect in the other areas of the game," Roberts said. "We weren't perfect."
Two runs were more than enough with Burnett spotting curves for strikes.
"Jake was outstanding," Shively said. "He kept their hitters off-balance all day. He did shut out LaVille this year, but this one was pretty good."
Triton took the 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth. With two outs, Landon Grubbs walked, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Hager Holbrook's single to left field.
Sheer hustle allowed the Senators to respond in the bottom of the fourth.
Burnett started the inning by hitting Curry. Mike Egolf followed with a slow roller between third base and the pitcher's mound, and on the play, Curry advanced from first to third. Curry was at second by the time the ball was gloved, and he went to third as Triton's Bryan Watkins threw to first to get Egolf for the out. Rich Evers hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Curry and tie the game at 1-all.
After going down in order in the fifth and sixth innings, the Senators tried to make it interesting in the seventh. Egolf led off the inning with a single to right field.
Just how dominating was Burnett? With no outs, Roberts pulled Evers, his cleanup batter and designated hitter, for pinch-hitter Steve Lawson. Lawson delivered a sacrifice bunt to move Egolf to second. Roberts then pulled his No. 5 hitter for pinch-hitter Brian Jackson, who grounded out and failed to move Egolf to third.
Burnett ended the game in fitting fashion, striking out Formossa on a pitch above his head.
"I was feeling the tension in the seventh," Burnett said. "Tyler told me just to throw strikes and that I had a defense behind me to help out."
Helping Triton throughout the postseason has been a quality schedule.
Triton may be a 1A school, but Shively estimates 75 percent of the teams on the Trojans' schedule are 2A and 3A schools. While Triton had 10 losses, Shively felt his team played more talented teams than did either Fort Wayne Blackhawk or Washington Township.
"When I talked to people about Washington Township," Shively said, "everybody said they were a good team. No one said they were a great team. I thought our pitching was better, our defense was better, and our offense was just as good.
"We were 3-6 at one point. Once we lost those games early, we had no chance to be ranked by the coaches' association."
Roberts agreed with Shively on the competition levels. He led his players to a school-record 31 victories only to watch his team bow out of the regional.
"We're disappointed, but we got beat by a better team," he said. "Triton plays in a tougher conference and plays tougher teams than us night in and night out. They were the favorite here in my book, no matter if they had 15 losses and we had one and no matter what the rankings said."
Triton 10, No. 4 Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian 4
Triton's offense, not Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian's, dominated the game.
Fort Wayne Blackhawk outscored teams 264-61 this season, and five Fort Wayne Blackhawk batters had averages higher than .400, but Triton right-handed starter Tyler Hensley (11-4) silenced the Braves after the first inning.
Zach Kubly hit a three-run home run in the first inning as the Braves took a 4-2 lead after one, but Hensley settled down to get the complete-game win. Hensley allowed five hits and struck out five.
"Hensley threw hard," Fort Wayne Blackhawk coach Tom Hopewell said. "We had guys swinging at balls (at eye level) up to here."
That Triton quieted the Braves didn't surprise Triton coach Jim Shively.
"I felt good knowing we had Tyler throwing, and looking at the teams they played because they aren't in a conference, I knew they didn't play the toughest competition," Shively said. "We won this game at the plate. We put up 10 runs. You'd better win with your ace on the mound."
"I thought Triton was a good team," Hopewell said, "so don't take anything away from them. But I'm more disappointed in the way we played. We didn't pitch well, we didn't field well, and we didn't hit well.
"Yeah, this was all new to us, no one has any regional experience, but that's no excuse for not settling down. I thought a key was in the second and third innings we could have extended our lead, but we didn't."
Triton scored four runs in the top of the third to take a 6-4 lead and added another in the fourth to make it 7-4.
The Braves, who won games by an average score of 11-2, found themselves on unfamiliar ground: trailing.
"Early in the game, they came out fired up," Shively said. "Once it hit the fifth inning and they were down, you could see they started slowing down, that they quit battling as hard. Them being down took the air out of them. They weren't comfortable in this situation, because they were used to winning games by 10 runs."
The top and bottom of Triton's order came up big.
Cousins Todd Blackford and Tyson Blackford, the bottom two hitters, each went 2 for 4 and scored a run. Leadoff hitter Jake Burnett went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs, and second hitter Joe Potter went 3 for 4 with three runs and an RBI.
Triton added its eighth run in the sixth inning and its ninth and 10th runs in the seventh.
Ten runs were the most Fort Wayne Blackhawk has given up this season, surpassing eight in the Braves' 8-2 loss to Churubusco in the third game of the year. Braves starter Brett Reilley (8-2) lasted only two innings and allowed five runs in taking the loss.
Class A Baseball State
Victory Field in Indianapolis
Friday
10:30 a.m. - No. 3 Madison Shawe (30-4) vs. Triton (22-10)
12:45 p.m. -ÊAdams Central (19-12) vs. Tecumseh (20-11)
Saturday
9:30 a.m. - Class A championship game
Tickets: $10
Tickets will be sold at Triton High School. There are no reserved seats.
Tuesday - Parents of players may purchase tickets at the spring athletic banquet at 6 p.m.
Wednesday -ÊTickets on sale from 10:30 a.m.-noon and from 1 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
Thursday -ÊTickets on sale from 7:30 a.m.-noon
TRITON 2, No. 1 WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP 1
Triton ab r h rbi
Burnett p 4 0 1 1
Potter c 4 0 0 0
Hensley ss 3 0 1 0
Grubbs rf 2 1 0 0
Holbrook 1b 1 0 1 1
Wagoner pr 0 0 0 0
Norman 2b 3 0 0 0
Watkins 3b 2 0 0 0
Kuhn pr 0 0 0 0
Td. Blackford lf 3 1 0 0
Tn. Blackford cf 3 0 0 0
Totals 25 2 3 2
W. Township ab r h rbi
Kotys 3b 3 0 0 0
Curry p 2 1 0 0
Egolf 1b 3 0 1 0
Evers dh 1 0 0 0
Lawson c 0 0 0 0
Stoner ss 2 0 0 0
Jackson ph 1 0 0 0
Formossa lf 3 0 0 0
Downey cf 2 0 1 0
Oman rf 2 0 0 0
Marion 2b 1 0 0 0
Totals 20 1 2 1
Triton (22-10) 000 110 0 - 2
W. Township (31-2) 000 100 0 - 1
E-Stoner 2, Formossa. LOB - Triton 6, Washington Township 2. SF -ÊEvers. S -ÊMartin, Lawson.
IP H R ER BB SO
Triton
Burnett W, 4-2 7 2 1 1 0 6
Washington Township
Curry L, 11-2 7 3 2 1 2 2
WP - Curry. HBP -ÊHolbrook 2 (2 by Curry), Curry (by Burnett). Picked off - Burnett at 2B (by Curry).
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TRITON 10
No. 4 FW BLACKHAWK CHRISTIAN 4
Triton ab r h rbi
Burnett ss 4 2 2 2
Potter c 4 3 3 1
Hensley p 3 1 0 0
Grubbs rf 2 1 0 2
Holbrook 1b 3 0 0 1
Norman 2b 3 1 1 1
Watkins 3b 3 0 1 1
Kuhn pr 0 0 0 0
Td. Blackford lf 4 1 2 1
Tn. Blackford cf 4 1 2 0
Totals 30 10 11 9
FW Blackhawk ab r h rbi
Petersen 2b-p 2 1 1 0
Wright ss-2b 3 1 2 0
Z. Kubly lf 4 1 1 3
Stoll cf 1 1 0 0
Bn. Reilley 3 0 0 0
R. Kubly pr 0 0 0 0
Harmon 3b 3 0 0 0
Zehr 1b 4 0 1 1
Bt. Reilley p-ss 3 0 0 0
Gonser p 1 0 0 0
Doust rf 3 0 0 0
Totals 27 4 5 4
Triton (21-10) 204 101 2 - 10
FW Blackhawk (22-4) 400 000 0 - 4
E - Burnett 2, Holbrook, Harmon. LOB -ÊTriton 7, FW Blackhawk 10. HR - Z. Kubly. 3B - Burnett. 2B - Zehr. SB -ÊPotter 2, Tn. Blackford, Burnett, Stoll 2, Petersen. CS - Norman. SF - Grubbs. S - Hensley.
IP H R ER BB SO
Triton
Hensley W, 11-4 7 5 4 4 7 5
FW Blackhawk
Bt. Reilley L, 8-2 2 2 5 3 3 3
Petersen 4 2-3 9 5 3 2 1
Gonser 1-3 0 0 0 0 1
Bt. Reilley pitched to four batters in the 3rd.
WP -ÊBt. Reilley, Petersen, Hensley. PB -ÊBn. Reilley. Balk -ÊPetersen. HBP -ÊPotter (by Bt. Reilley), Watkins (by Bt. Reilley).
