1998 IHSAA Baseball Class 2A State Championship Game

 

ALEXANDRIA WINS CLASS 2A BASEBALL CROWN

Alexandria made school and state history as it defeated Evansville Mater Dei, 4-3, to capture the IHSAA Class 2A state title on Saturday at Victory Field in Indianapolis.

 

The second-ranked Tigers, who finished 25-4 under coach Monte Sprague, won the school's first state championship in baseball and also became the first school in state history to win a basketball and baseball championship in the same year. Alexandria won the Class 2A state title in boys basketball last March by defeating Southwestern of Hanover, 57-43.

 

Unranked Evansville Mater Dei, under coach Darin Knight, closed its season 21-11 in its first trip to the state finals.

 

Alexandria busted out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning. Justin Melton reached safely on an error and Mike Clark brought him home with a one out triple to left centerfield. Joe Granger followed with a single up the middle to score Clark. With two outs, Dustin Musick then nailed a double over the centerfielder which scored Granger.

 

The Tigers made it 4-0 in the top of the fifth inning. Mat Blanton led off with a bunt single and then stole second base. He moved to third base and scored on a pair of wild pitches by Dustin Macke.

 

Mater Dei got its first two runs of the game in its half of the fifth inning as Ike Miller and Matt Vowels walked to lead off the inning and were brought around on Chris Maynard's double off the left centerfield fence to cut the deficit to 4-2.

 

The Wildcats added another run in the bottom of the seventh. Pinch hitter Nate Schiff led off with a base on balls and was replaced on the basepath by Vowels. Rob Mallory followed with a walk of his own. Maynard then singled to leftfield to score Vowels from second base. Evansville Mater Dei had a chance to tie the game with runners at first and third and one out. Alexandria, however, squelched the rally with its third double play of the game as Musick grabbed the sharp grounder, stepped on first base and flipped to shortstop Scott Rowland at second base for the final out.

 

The IHSAA Executive Committee selected J.D. Closser of Alexandria High School as the recipient of the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award in Class 2A Baseball. Farm Bureau Insurance, the IHSAA corporate partner, presented a $1,000 scholarship to Alexandria High School in Closser's name.

 

 

Alexandria (4)

 

AB

R

H

RBI

Joe Granger, cf

4

1

1

1

Dustin Musick, 1b

2

0

1

1

J.D. Closser, c

3

0

1

0

Adam May, 3b

3

0

0

0

Scott Rowland, ss

3

0

0

0

Jason Pierce, rf

3

0

0

0

Justin Melton, dh

3

1

1

0

Eric Davidson, pr

0

0

0

0

Mat Blanton, lf

3

1

1

0

Mike Clark, 2b

3

1

1

1

Jim Linder, p

0

0

0

0

Shawn Baker, p

0

0

0

0

TOTALS

27

4

6

3

 

Evansville Mater Dei (3)

 

AB

R

H

RBI

Rob Mallory, 1b

3

0

0

0

Chris Maynard, cf

3

0

2

3

Adam Schiff, ss

3

0

0

0

Andy Woehler, pr

0

0

0

0

Chris Droste, dh

3

0

0

0

Dustin Lannert, 3b

3

0

1

0

Nick Miller, rf

3

0

2

0

Dustin Macke, p

2

0

0

0

Ryan Scheu, pr

0

0

0

0

Ike Miller, 2b

2

1

0

0

Matt Vowels, lf

0

2

0

0

Nathan Schiff, ph

0

0

0

0

Chris Kueber, c

0

0

0

0

TOTALS

22

3

5

3

 

Alexandria

0

0

3

0

1

0

0

--

4

6

1

Ev. Mater Dei

0

0

0

0

2

0

1

--

3

5

1

 

E — I. Miller, Musick. 2B — Lannert, Maynard, Musick. 3B — Clark. LOB — Alexandria 3, Evansville Mater Dei 7. DP -- Alexandria 3 (Linder, Musick); (Granger, Musick); (Musick, Rowland). WP — D. Macke 3. HBP -- Linder 2. SB -- Davidson, Blanton. Umpires — Ken Hattery (Home Plate), Jim Fish (First Base), Scott Siler (Second Base), Bill Babcock (Third Base). Time of Game — 1:45.

 

Pitching Summary

 

IP

R

ER

H

BB

SO

Linder, W (11-1)

6

3

3

4

7

9

Baker, S

1

0

0

1

0

0

D. Macke, L (8-2)

7

4

3

6

1

4