New Palestine High School

The New Palestine baseball team clinched the outright Hoosier Heritage Conference championship Friday, scoring nine runs in the final three innings to pull away from host New Castle 11-3. The Dragons finish conference play with a 13-3 mark. clinching their first outright title since 2018. They finish the regular season 20-3 overall. The Dragons jumped ahead early, as Rigg Mahurin led the game off with a double and scored as the lead half of a double-steal. They doubled the lead in the third, as Ethan Nunnally led off with a walk. His pinch-runner, Max Newkirk, stole second, advanced to third on a flyout and scored on Jacob Morris' infield hit. New Castle cut the lead to 2-1 in the fourth, tightening the game with a single and a sacrifice fly. But the Dragons seized control in the top of the fifth. Nunnally hit a one-out single and Mahurin followed with a walk. Neal drove them both in by tripling to left. After Morris walked, he stole second and drew an errant throw, allowing Neal to score. Morris then scored on a double by Jackson Kamp. A passed ball allowed another run to score, capping a five-run inning and putting the Dragons up 7-1. NP added two more runs in the sixth when Ryan Haines reached on an error. Neal drove him home with a double and scored on a base hit by Morris to push the lead to 9-1. New Castle scored two in the bottom of the sixth, but the Dragons restored an eight-run lead in the seventh. Liam Atkinson was hit by a pitch and scored on Rylan Edwards' double. After two walks loaded the bases, Morris drove in another run with a single. Morris (4-1) earned the win on the mound, allowing four hits and one earned run over five innings. He struck out five. Holden Hughes came on in relief and allowed two runs, two hits and struck out two in two innings. Offensively, Morris helped lead the way, going 3-for-4 with a run and three RBI. Neal was 2-for-3 with a double, a triple, two runs and three RBI. Mahurin was 1-for-3 with a double and three runs. Kamp was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Nunnally was 1-for-1. Edwards was 1-for-1 with a double and an RBI. The Class 3A No. 5 Dragons open sectional play Wednesday at home against Rushville.