2001 IHSAA Baseball State Finals

June 16, 2001

Class 4A, Victory Field, Indianapolis

 

 

Penn collects third title in eight years

Striking quickly as the first three batters of the game struck first-pitch base hits, the Penn Kingsmen grabbed a 4-0 lead in the first inning and cruised to a 18-5 victory over Castle. It was the third IHSAA baseball championship in the past eight seasons for Penn.

 

Senior Eric Moore, who quarterbacked the Penn football team to the IHSAA Class 5A football title last fall, started the onslaught with a single to lead off the game. Jon Lies followed with another single, and Dave Zachary brought both home with a double to right center. Zachary stroked two more 2-RBI base hits in the second inning as Penn built a 13-0 lead.

 

Castle pulled to 13-4 after three innings, but Penn erupted for three more runs in the fourth inning.

 

Penn broke the all-time state championship game record for runs in a game in the fifth inning when Billy Grace scored on Bryan Harrell’s single and fourth RBI of the game to make it 17-4. Three of the top five marks for most runs scored in a championship game occurred in the 2001 state finals topped by the Kingsmen’s 18 runs.

 

The Kingsmen also broke their own record for most hits in a game with 19 when Brian Grupp singled to leftfield in the seventh inning. Penn’s total of 18 hits in the 1998 Class 4A championship game had been the previous standard.

 

Penn, coached by Greg Dikos in all three championship seasons (1994, 1998-Class 4A), finished 34-2. Castle, led by coach Dave Sensenbrenner, ended its state runner-up campaign at 27-8.

 

During the 2000-01 school year, Penn became the first school in IHSAA history to play in the state championship game in football, boys basketball (Class 4A) and baseball (4A) in the same school year. The Kingsmen have won 11 IHSAA titles in all sports, nine coming in the past decade.

 

Penn defeated Munster, 7-1, for its spot in the championship game and Castle edged Perry Meridian, 1-0, in the other semifinal.

 

For the complete championship box score and play-by-play, click here: http://www.ihsaa.org/b-baseball/01Class4AFinal.htm

Matthew Keener of Castle named Mental Attitude recipient

Matthew Keener of Castle High School, was selected by the IHSAA Executive Committee as the 2001 recipient of the L.V. Phillips Award for Mental Attitude in Class 4A baseball.

A four-year member of the Castle baseball team, Keener was the starting rightfielder for the Class 4A state runner-up Knights.

Academically, Keener ranks ninth in his senior class of 343 students. He is a member of the National Honor Society, is the student athletic council representative for baseball and is a co-founder of the German Club. He plans to attend the University of Southern Indiana and study marketing and advertising.

Farm Bureau Insurance, corporate partner of the IHSAA, presented a $1,000 check to Castle High School in the name of Keener.