Fishers High School

The #4 Fishers Tigers Varsity Baseball Team (25-5) traded haymakers with Zionsville Eagles in the first 2 innings. It was like 2 heavy weight fighters landing blow after blow. Both teams scored 1 run in the 1st and 2 runs in the 2nd making the score a 3-3 tie after 2 innings. That is where the score would stay until the Tigers pushed across 1 run in each the 6th and 7th innings, and then held on for a 5-4 victory in the Sectional Semi-Final. The Tigers landed the first punch when Huston Dunn scored on Luke Cherry’s RBI triple into the left centerfield gap. The Eagles responded with a run in the bottom half of the frame to tie the game at 1. Jase Ruggles walked to lead off the 2nd, and Mayo Fernandez reached on an error to put runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs. Carter Strole laid down a sacrifice bunt to put the runners in scoring position. With 2 outs, Repp punched a 2-run single into right field to score Ruggles and Fernandez and take a 3-1 lead. The Tigers lead didn’t last long, as the Eagles first 4 batters reached in the bottom of the 2nd to score 2 runs and tie the game at 3. Both offenses went quiet through the middle frames until Repp was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the top of the 6th to take a 4-3 lead. The Tigers manufactured a much-needed insurance run in the top of the 7th. Zander Carnahan reached on a walk to lead off the inning and advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch. Cherry laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Carnahan to 3rd with 1 out. Trevor Hall’s RBI groundout scored Carnahan to extend the lead to 5-3. That run deemed to be extremely important, as the Eagles managed to manufacture 1 run in the bottom of the 7th, but never really offered much more off a threat than that. Repp led the Tigers offense with a single, 3 RBI, and 2 stolen bases. Cherry contributed the RBI triple, and Hall picked up an RBI, which became the game winning RBI. Ruggles and Fernandez both had 1 single. Reid Garber (8-0) earned the victory on the mound with 3 innings of relief. Garber inherited a runner with no outs in the 4th but left him stranded at 3rd. Garber did not allow a runner of his own until a leadoff walk in the 6th, which was his 3rd inning of work. That runner was quickly erased on a beautiful 5-4-3 double play turned by Strole, Fernandez, and Ruggles. Garber did allow another base runner on a hit but left him on 1st. Owen Lukac pitched the 7th inning to earn his 3rd save of the season. Lukac allowed 1 earned run, as the lead off batter reached on a walk and advanced on a wild pitch and 2 groundouts. With 2 outs and the bases empty, Lukac induced the final out on another groundball. Hayden Werner started the game and pitched 3+ innings in the no decision. Werner struck out 2, allowed 3 earned runs on 4 hits and 3 walks. With the win, the Tigers advanced to the Sectional Championship on Monday, where they will play the Westfield Shamrocks in a rematch of last year’s Sectional Championship. The game time is scheduled for 6pm.