Golden Bears prepped for regional championship battle against Fighting Irish

With a veteran infield and plenty of pitching presence, Shelbyville baseball will attempt to follow winning its first sectional championship in 21 years with securing the program’s first-ever regional championship.

On Saturday at Center Grove High School, Class 3A, No. 9 Shelbyville (20-4) takes on No. 8 Indianapolis Cathedral (20-9-1) in a 3 p.m. regional championship game.

If you cannot attend the game, GIANT fm will broadcast the game on 96.5 fm, 1520 am, 106.3 fm or online at GIANT.fm

That game follows a Class 4A regional championship game at 11 a.m. between top-ranked Center Grove (25-1) and Richmond (13-14).

Shelbyville

Over an eight-day stretch, the Golden Bears (photo) secured the Hoosier Heritage Conference championship (first since 2014) and a Class 3A sectional title (first since 2005) by winning four games against quality opponents.

The next step is to not be satisfied with just a regional appearance. Cathedral has much more postseason experience than Shelbyville, but the Golden Bears have been terrific defensively (one error in those four wins) and resilient when called upon (trailed New Palestine 9-1 early in sectional semifinal).

Shelbyville head coach Jacob Shively won a sectional title as a Golden Bear in 1998. A regional game against Cathedral did not go so well he recalled.

“I see that as a testament to what they’ve done,” said Shively of the two-decade sectional championship drought. “It’s hard to see it as detached from what we did everyday – the grind. I think they will see that in memories, and that trophy. That year on the plaque. Then it sinks in, what a long time for us.”

There should be no surprises Saturday after Monday’s surprise when Aiden Smith, a University of Kentucky recruit, was ruled out of the championship game after suffering a knee injury in the semifinal win over New Palestine.

That means senior Reece Prickett (4-1, 2.83 ERA) will be called upon to start on the mound. If he struggles, Shively can turn to senior Gavin Reed (2-1, 3.84 ERA), junior Luke Coomes (4-0, 1.44 ERA) or sophomore Austin Martzall (2-1, 1.25 ERA) to step up.

The pitching staff available is not overpowering – 104 strikeouts over 108.2 innings pitched. So, Shelbyville will need its defense to continue to shine.

“We knew we were capable of that (kind of defense),” said Shively. Throughout the year, our goal really was about .980 (fielding percentage). We knew what we had in the infield and we set the expectations bar really high. It’s one thing to say it and another thing to do it. We expect that out of them, seniors there on the infield. A lot of hard work paid off there with the defense.”

With Smith (.479, 37 runs, 30 RBIs) out of the lineup, there is less offensive pop. Martzall (.388, 33 runs, 14 RBIs) sets the tone at the top of the lineup with Reed (.342, 21 RBIs), Prickett (370, 18 RBIs) and fellow senior Brady Bryant (.338, 16 runs) to follow.

Brayden Smith (.329, 18 runs, 14 RBIs) moves up the lineup to keep the top half productive.

Shively will need quality at bats from the bottom part of the lineup that includes Coomes, Nolan Cord, Adair Zermeno and Kellen Linville.

Indianapolis Cathedral

The Fighting Irish (photo) have won six straight sectional championships and nine in the last 10 years. No sectional titles were awarded in 2020 (COVID-19).

And Cathedral has won 15 regional championships.

Head coach Ed Freije has a frontline starting pitcher in Henry Haley (8-1, 2.07 ERA). The junior’s only loss this season came in Cathedral’s season-opening 3-2 loss to Lake Central. In 47.1 innings this year, he has allowed 29 hits and 23 walks and collected 49 strikeouts.

In his team’s 8-5 sectional championship game win over Indianapolis Bishop Chatard, he pitched 5.1 innings, allowed four hits, three walks and five runs while striking out three.

If Haley falters, Freije can turn to Connor Christiansen (3-0, 3.23 ERA), Landon Hughes (3-4, 4.72 ERA) or Charlie Johnson (3-2, 4.50 ERA) out of the bullpen.

Army West Point commit Eli Sinsabaugh is hitting .374 with 12 doubles, 17 stolen bases and 30 runs scored.

Royce Ward, committed to Division II Young Harris College, is dangerous as well, hitting .386 with 18 runs scored.

Seniors Michael Gallagher (.409 average, 33 runs) and Chase Nickols (.426 average, 18 runs) give depth to a lineup that also features Hanover College commit Landon Hughes and DePauw football commit Cameron Koers.

Semistate

The regional champions in southern Indiana will be assigned on Sunday to one of four host sites – Mitchell, Lawrence Central, Castle (University of Evansville) or Jasper (Ruxer Field) -- for semistate tournaments.

The winner between Shelbyville and Cathedral will face either No. 4 Gibson Southern (25-6) or Evansville Memorial (17-8) in a semistate semifinal game.

The other semistate semifinal game will feature the winner of the Batesville (17-10) and No. 12 Providence (24-5) regional championship game and the winner of the No. 2 Guerin Catholic (24-3-1) and Northview (17-8) regional final.

The IHSAA state championship games are June 19 and June 20 at Victory Field in downtown Indianapolis.

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