New Palestine High School

The New Palestine baseball team clinched a piece of its first Hoosier Heritage Conference championship since 2018 Wednesday, beating New Castle 12-1 in five innings. The Dragons (19-3, 10-3 HHC) pounced early, scoring five runs in each of the first two innings, to take control. Senior Rigg Mahurin went the distance, striking out 11 Trojans and allowing two hits and one earned run. NP holds a 1.5-game lead over Mt. Vernon in the conference standings. The Dragons travel to New Castle Thursday, while MV faces Yorktown in a doubleheader. A win by the Dragons or a loss by MV in either game will clinch the outright title for NP. The Dragons took little time getting started. After Mahurin pitched his way out of a jam in the top of the first - leaving two runners in scoring position - with his third strikeout of the inning, he led off the bottom of the first with a long triple to right-center. He quickly came home when Gavin Neal grounded to short, but the ball was mishandled and Neal reached on the error. A walk and a hit batter loaded the bases. Kingston Hedges gave the Dragons a 3-0 lead with a base hit to left. Liam Atkinson followed with a ground-rule double to the warning track in left center to plate another run, and Carsyn Baker made it 5-0 with an RBI single to center. After Mahurin struck out the side in the second, he again launched a five-run inning in the third. His flyball to right leading off the inning was mishandled, allowing him to reach third. Neal drove him home with a double to left and then scored on Jackson Kamp's long triple to center. Jesse Isaacs followed with an RBI single, forcing a pitching change. A walk and two hit batters brought Isaacs home with the Dragons 10th run, before an unusual doubleplay on an infield fly ended the inning. New Castle scored a run on a single and three walks in the fourth, but the Dragons immediately got it back. Neal led off with a walk, followed by Jacob Morris' base hit. Kamp and Atkinson drove in runs with singles to push the lead to 12-1. Six of the Dragons' 12 hits were for extra bases. Hedges helped pace it, going 2-for-3 with two runs, a double and three RBI. Kamp was 2-for-2 with a triple, a run and two RBI. Atkinson was 2-for-2 with a run and two RBI. Mahurin was 1-for-3 with a triple and two runs. Neal was 1-for-2 with a double, three runs and two RBI. Morris was 1-for-2 with two runs. Isaacs was 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Baker was 1-for-1 with an RBI. Ryan Haines was 1-for-1 with a pinch-hit triple. The Dragons' game Thursday at New Castle will be their final regular-season tilt. They open sectional play May 28 at home against Rushville.