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Northview upsets Indian Creek in sectional semifinal
It appeared like the start of the Class 3A Edgewood Sectional was setting up perfectly for Indian Creek’s baseball team.
Northview eked out an emotionally charged win over West Vigo on Wednesday night, and in doing so, the Knights had to use ace Caden Schrader as well as the team’s No. 2 starting pitcher in Brayden Kreiger for 19 pitches to advance its season onto Thursday’s semifinal.
Indian Creek, meanwhile, cruised past Owen Valley on Wednesday while using a freshman pitcher that entered the night sporting a 5.15 ERA to do so, meaning the Braves had their top arms at their disposal for the semifinal bout with Northview.
That made Indian Creek the clearcut favorites to clinch a spot in the sectional championship game on Memorial Day, right? Maybe, but Northview had other thoughts.
Coming off their one-run affair against Indian Creek on April 25, Northview head coach Craig Trout did some scouting back in Brazil. The longtime skipper mapped out a plan that he thought could quiet the Braves’ offense that averaged 8.5 runs per game throughout the regular season but struggled against off-speed offerings.
The strategy? Use Kreiger, who is known for being able to consistently flip in breaking balls for strikes, for as long as he physically could go or until he reached his pitch count.
As it turned out, he had plenty of gas left in the tank after closing out the win over West Vigo in the opening round. Kreiger delivered a memorable outing to help lead Northview past Indian Creek with a 7-1 win.
The junior right-hander threw a complete game, surrendering one run on three hits and two walks while striking out eight.
With the way he was throwing up zeroes on the scoreboard, all Kreiger needed was some run support to get the Knights back into another sectional championship game. That came in the third inning when Zac Buell singled and scored on Peyton Lear’s double to center. Cam Green followed with an RBI triple to right. Caden Schrader then capped the three-run third inning with an RBI single to left, putting Northview into the driver’s seat.
The Knights extended their advantage with four more runs in the fifth on Gavin McMain’s bunt, Jackson Farris’ RBI single and Green’s two-run double.
All that was left were the finishing touches by Kreiger, who retired nine of the final 12 Brave batters he faced to wrap up the game.
With the win, Northview advanced onto Monday’s sectional championship where the Knights will take on South Vermillion, which pulled off the upset of Edgewood with a 7-3 win in the second of Thursday’s sectional semifinal games.
NORTHVIEW (AB-R-H-RBI) – Lear 1b 4-1-2-1, Green cf 4-1-2-3, Schrader ss 3-0-1-1, Kreiger p 3-0-0-0, Higham dh 3-0-1-0, Barnhart pr-dh 1-1-0-0, Pierce 2b 4-1-2-0, McMains c 3-0-0-0, Rissler ph 1-0-0-0, Farris rf 3-1-1-0, Buell lf 3-1-1-0, Goff lf 1-0-0-0. TOTALS 33-7-10-5.
INDIAN CREEK (AB-R-H-RBI) – Turner 3b-p 3-1-1-0, Steinway ss 2-0-1-1, Bragg c 2-0-1-0, Modlin p-cf 2-0-0-0, Bohall cf 1-0-0-0, Bartle p 0-0-0-0, Winters rf 0-0-0-0, Laymon cf-1b 3-0-0-0, Harmon 2b 3-0-0-0, DeHart dh 3-0-0-0, Mann lf 2-0-0-0, Harden 1b-3b 2-0-0-0. TOTALS 23-1-3-1.
Northview 000 340 0 – 7
Indian Creek 000 001 0 – 1
3B – Green. 2B – Green, Lear Steinway. SB – Bragg. CS – Schrader, Steinway.
Pitching
Northview IP H R ER BB SO
Kreiger (W) 7 3 1 1 2 8
Indian Creek IP H R ER BB SO
Modlin 2.1 1 0 0 1 2
Turner (L) 2.1 9 7 3 0 1
Bartle 1.1 0 0 0 0 0
Laymon 1 0 0 0 1 1
Next – Northview (16-8) advanced onto Monday’s sectional championship. Indian Creek (16-5) concluded its season.