FORTVILLE — After riding a strong pitching performance to make it to the sectional championship game Monday, Mt. Vernon started to struggle on the mound at the wrong time against Pendleton Heights.
In a season-series tiebreaker with Pendleton Heights, Mt. Vernon had trouble finding the strike zone and walked itself into trouble early and often. Defensive mistakes didn’t help.
Pendleton Heights took advantage of the Marauders’ miscues. After the teams split their April 27 regular-season doubleheader, the Monday, May 28, third game between the teams was for a sectional title and a spot in the regional round.
The Arabians got timely hits after costly Marauders walks and errors to get the best of their Hoosier Heritage Conference rival, keeping their season alive with an 11-4 victory and advancing to the Saturday, June 2, regional semifinal at Decatur Central.
Mt. Vernon outhit Pendleton Heights in the defeat, eight to six. But the difference was on the mound, where Arabians starter Walker Stull had two walks — none until the sixth inning — while four Marauders pitchers combined to walk 12 batters.
Mt. Vernon had jumped ahead quickly, with its first four batters reaching base in the top of the first. Nolan Bowser singled to lead off the game, Jaden Cappelletti singled, an error at second base put Sam McCarty on and scored a run, and a single from Dino Tharp plated another run, giving the Marauders an early 3-0 lead.
From there, momentum swung entirely into Pendleton Heights’ favor.
The Arabians struck back in the second inning, putting two on with a walk and an error with no outs. After a strikeout from Mt. Vernon starting pitcher Cole Cain and an infield fly, a walk loaded the bases with two outs. The third walk of the inning from Cain gave the Arabians their first run of the game and brought in A.J. Swingle to pitch.
Swingle gave up a single to the first batter he faced and walked the next, re-loading the bases with the score tied 3-3, but he got a much-needed strikeout to get out of the inning.
The fourth inning was the turning point for the Marauders. Three straight walks loaded the bases again, a double nearly cleared them, and a single and another walk plated two more runs for the Arabians. Pendleton Heights sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning, chasing Swingle and plating four more runs to give it a 7-3 lead.
The Arabians loaded the bases again in the fifth inning, scoring four more runs in the frame in part due to two more walks and two more Mt. Vernon errors.
Scoring for the Arabians were Walker Stull with three; Evan Douglas, Wyatt Douglas and Kamden Earley with two apiece; and Zach Lawhon and Cole Miller with one each.
Earley had three RBI. Wyatt Douglas and René Casas had two apiece, and Evan Douglas and Cole Miller each had one.
Pendleton Heights will face Terre Haute South Vigo in a regional semifinal game at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 2. The winner will advance to face Cathedral or Roncalli in regional championship action at 8 p.m. that day.
Winners of the four regional championships statewide meet in semistate finals June 9. The state championship game will take place at a later date at Victory Field in Indianapolis.