New Palestine High School

A solid pitching performance from Jacob Morris and timely hitting led the New Palestine baseball team to a 6-0 victory over Greenfield-Central and the Dragons' third straight sectional title. The Dragons (24-5) clinched their 19th sectional championship in school history with the victory. They advance to play in Saturday's regional against the winner of the Lawrence North sectional. The time and site will be announced later this week. Morris threw a two-hit shutout, facing two batters more than the minimum. He struck out one, but outstanding defense kept the Cougars' offense at bay. G-C's best scoring chance came in the fourth, when a leadoff walk was followed by a stolen base and a two-out double by Kirk Knecht. However, centerfielder Henry Thorpe reeled the ball in and threw the ball quickly back to the infield, where Adam Rickey pegged the throw home and the runner - who held up to see if the ball would be caught - was tagged out at the plate trying to score. After that, Morris retired the last 10 batters he faced to end the game. The Cougars' only other hit was a single in the first, which Wyatt Mathies picked up and threw to second to erase the runner trying to stretch it to a double. The Dragons' bats were solid against hard-throwing G-C starter Parker Rhodes. With one out in the second, Rigg Mahurin singled up the middle to give the Dragons their first baserunner. Two pitches later, Ben Hirschy blasted a two-run homer well over the right-centerfield fence, giving the Dragons a 2-0 lead. Morris' pitching allowed it to stand up. The Dragons had two runners on in the third, but G-C turned a doubleplay to end the threat. The Dragons also stranded two runners in the fifth inning after two errors put the first two on base. In the sixth, the Dragons broke through and put the game away. Morris led off with a single to right. Kamp followed by beating out an infield hit. Mahurin drew a walk to load the bases, chasing Rhodes. With one out and the infield in, Mathies drilled a double into the left-centerfield gap, scoring all three runners and putting the Dragons up 5-0. Gavin Neal later followed with a solid single to left to plate Mathies. Morris induced a groundout, lineout and a popout to end the game and touch off the Dragons' celebration. The Dragons out-hit G-C 7-2. Neal was 2-for-2 with an RBI. Morris and Kamp were both 1-for-4 with a run. Mahurin was 1-for-3 with two runs. Hirschy was 1-for-3 with his two-run homer. Mathies was 1-for-3 with a double, a run and three RBI.