June 19, 2010
CARROLL OUTLASTS INDIANAPOLIS CATHEDRAL IN EXTRA INNINGS FOR 4A CHAMPIONSHIP
The Class 4A title game was one for the ages on Saturday night at Victory Field in Indianapolis. Carroll’s Curtis Wise and Cathedral’s Dillon Peters dueled each other on the mound for eight scoreless innings , but a Zach Vanlandingham single in the top of the 9th gave the Chargers a 1-0, extra inning victory and the school’s first state championship in any sport.
Wise and Peters were both brilliant the entire game. Wise threw a nine-inning complete game shutout, allowed only five hits and four walks, and struck out six. He squirmed out of a bases loaded jam in the third inning, and a second-and-third, one-out jam in the fourth.
Peters matched him pitch-for-pitch, as he surrendered just six hits and one walk and set a state finals record with 16 strikeouts. No runner advanced past second base against him until the ninth inning.
On a night dominated by the pitchers, left fielder Grant Wilson stood out for Carroll with two hits and a walk in four plate appearances.
Vanlandingham, whose 9th-inning line drive tipped off the glove of Cathedral third baseman Tom Farrell to knock in the winning run, was the defensive star for Dave Ginder’s Chargers. He made three diving plays at the hot corner to help keep the slate clean for Wise.
Peters added two hits in three at bats to his outstanding outing on the mound; Scott Miller, Matt Dauby and Farrell also had hits for the Rich Andriole’s Fighting Irish team, which was making the school’s fourth appearance in the state finals.
The victory by the Chargers (26-6) snapped an 18-game winning streak for Cathedral (31-2).
CARROLL’S ROSS O’NEILL NAMED MENTAL ATTITUDE AWARD RECIPIENT
Following the game, Carroll High School’s Ross O’Neill was named the winner of the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award for Class 4A Baseball by the IHSAA Executive Committee.
The award is annually presented to an outstanding senior participant in each state championship game who has best demonstrated excellence in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability in baseball. The award is named in honor of the late L.V. Phillips, who served as the second commissioner of the IHSAA from 1945-62.
O’Neill is a two-year letter-winner with the Chargers baseball team and earned the team’s mental attitude award this spring. He’s also played four years of football and two years of basketball for the Allen County school.
He’s served as class president, was a member of the National Honor Society and also the Student Council and plans to attend the University of Illinois to study business this fall.
He is the son of Tim and Dayna O’Neill of Fort Wayne.
Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, the proud corporate partner of all IHSAA state tournaments, presented a $1,000 scholarship to Carroll High School in the name of O’Neill.