New Palestine High School

The New Palestine baseball team scored 10 runs in the opening inning and never looked back Wednesday, knocking off Muncie Central 22-0 in the sectional opener. The Dragons (22-5) advance to face Richmond in Saturday's 11 a.m. sectional semifinal at New Palestine. The Dragons were the visiting team on the scoreboard despite playing on their home turf, and had a double-digit lead before starter Rigg Mahurin threw a pitch. Mahurin, Jacob Morris and Henry Thorpe combined on a one-hit shutout. Marhuin struck out three in two innings. Morris fanned five and allowed a hit in two innings, while Thorpe fanned three in the fifth. The Dragons had 14 hits, led by Morris, who went 3-for-3 with a double, a run andfour RBI. Jackson Kamp was 1-for-3 with three RBI. Ben Hirschy had two hits, a run and an RBI. Trase Quillen, Nic Deering, Liam Atkinson, Wyatt Mathies and Gavin Neal all drove in two runs each. Adam Rickey, Quillen, Deering, Jesse Isaacs, Ryan Haines, Mathies and Neal each had a hit. The first inning started with a sbase hit by Rickey, followed by Deering being hit by a pitch. Morris drove in the first run with a double. Kamp brought in two more with another double. Hirschy's single to center plated a fourth run. After a fielder's choice out plated a fifth, a walk to Michael Thorpe put two runners on. Neal singled in a run to make it 6-0 after one trip through the order. Rickey was hit by a pitch and Deering drew a bases-loaded walk to force in another run. Morris followed with a two-run single and Kamp an RBI groundout. In the second, Deering was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, while Morris followed with an RBI single to make it a 12-0 game. An error and RBI groundout by Neal made it 14-0 in the third. The Dragons plated six runs in the fourth. Atkinson and Mathies each drew bases-loaded walks. Michael Thorpe hit a sacrifice fly. Sean Young drove in a run with a fielder's choice and Quillen followed with a two-run double. In the fifth, Atkinson hit an RBI double and another run came home on a wild pitch to add two more runs.