DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
DECATUR – A play at the plate, going second to home on an infield hit, running all the way through the bag.
The Heritage Patriots did the little things Wednesday night to come back and beat the Mississinewa Indians in a riveting postseason baseball game at Bellmont, advancing to the semifinal where they’ll play the Braves on Thursday afternoon.
Trailing 4-3 after four innings, the Patriots started a rally in the top of the sixth that resulted in three runs, with two coming on a timely and well-placed bloop single by Brady Boyle with two outs. They added an insurance run in the top of the seventh with some great baserunning to break the will of the Indians and advance.
After the first three batters reached for the Patriots, it looked like it would be a long night for Mississinewa starter Jacob Swartz. He allowed a single by Beau Stoppenhagen and a double by Kingston Galentine to lead off the game and both came in to score later in the frame.
Swartz did not give up another hit until the sixth inning. Instead, he shut down the Patriots until the fourth inning, when a pair of wild pitches put Max Mirelez in scoring position. Mirelez scored on a productive groundout to briefly give Heritage the lead back.
Mississinewa had already answered the two Heritage runs with two of their own in the bottom of the opening inning, as Seth Yoder bunted for a hit and Heritage starter Jaxon Feasby put an extra runner on with a hit batsmen.
The Indians got to Feasby in the fourth for two runs, but it was a strikeout looking to end the inning with the bases loaded that may have been the biggest play of the early going.
Heritage defended their 6-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth by gunning down Yoder at the plate after the Indians’ leadoff hitter tried to score from second on a base hit to center. Lucas Taylor threw a strike to Brady Boyle, who had plenty of time to slider over and apply the tag to Yoder. The Mississinewa fans and coaches argued for interference, but Boyle made the play correctly and the Indians likely regretted the decision to send a runner from third with one out when they were down two runs.
Galentine then got the Patriots out of the jam by taking out the lead runner on a tough ground ball up the middle, sending the game to the seventh.
The sophomore Galentine got a one-out hit in the top of the seventh and swiftly stole second, setting up Lucas Taylor for an interesting RBI. The center fielder hit a ball to the first baseman’s right and relief pitcher Amari Elkins made a nice play to get to the bag in time to cover and get the out. Galentine never stopped running in the meantime and was sent home without hesitation. He beat the last-gasp attempt at a tag on the return throw home by a step without a slide and the two-run lead was suddenly three.
Eli Rauner, who entered the game when Mississinewa scored their two runs in the fourth, shut down the Indians 1-2-3 in the final inning to finish off a 3.1-inning relief outing. He allowed no runs and struck out three.
The Patriots finished with just six hits, but they won the stat the counted, runs scored, to advance to Thursday’s semifinal against Bellmont. That game can be heard on WZBD’s YouTube channel.
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