PENDLETON — The Mt. Vernon playoff roster lists 21 active names.
On Memorial Day, however, as the Class 4A Marauders clinched the program’s eighth sectional championship all time and first since 2011, that listing figuratively added up to approximately 30.
The first Mt. Vernon baseball team to win more than 21 games in a season. The first to seize an outright Hoosier Heritage Conference championship and the first to win a 4A sectional title, the Marauders’ ninth straight victory wasn’t just for the 2021 team.
It was for what could have been in 2020, and what is unfolding this spring, as the Marauders shut out rival Pendleton Heights, 8-0, in the championship game at Bill Stoudt Field to capture the Sectional 9 tournament crown.
“I think (the 2020 seniors are) living through us right now because they didn’t have their season last year, so we had to go out and show out for them,” Mt. Vernon senior Jake Stank said.
“It feels great being able to finally do it, especially after not having a season last year, it’s an incredible feeling.”
That elation reverberated throughout the Marauders’ dugout as senior ace AJ Swingle threw a masterful, complete-game, one-hitter.
It grew further in the top of the third as Stank drilled the left-field stadium light pole for a tide-turning, two-run home run that increased Mt. Vernon’s lead 4-0.
The Marauders’ gaiety peaked in the bottom of the seventh when senior second baseman Joel Walton scooped up a ground ball and fired it over to senior Payton Bovard at first base for the final out and the team’s third consecutive shutout victory.
All the while, onlooking from outside the lines, a few of the graduated 2020 Marauders, who lost their senior season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cheered on.
“Looking in the dugout and seeing those guys, some of the seniors that graduated, I can tell they’re into it just as much as we are,” Swingle said. “They want to be out there.”
The present-day Marauders are winning for them and for themselves, and they’re doing it their way.
In two sectional games, Mt. Vernon outscored both Muncie Central (19-0 in the semifinals on Saturday) and Pendleton Heights by a combined 27 runs, logged 22 hits and Marauder pitching only allowed a total of three hits.
“Last year, everybody looked at that team and thought that’s the team for Mt. Vernon. Honestly, I think, these guys felt a little slighted, but they worked hard, and I think it’s huge for our program to get a win like that,” Mt. Vernon head coach Brad King said.
At 24-6 on the season, the Marauders have won six games by shutout and Swingle posted his third to stymie Pendleton Heights.
During the regular season, Mt. Vernon (12-2 HHC) swept their two-game conference series with the Arabians (16-16, 8-6 HHC) by margins of 10-6 and 13-5 in late April.
For the teams’ third meeting, the Marauders kept the Arabians out of scoring position with the exception of a pair reaching second base in the bottom of the fourth and fifth but no farther.
Swingle struck out 10 of the 27 batters he faced, improved his record to 8-0, walked four and left six runners stranded.
“He’s been that way all year long. We put No. 21 on the mound, and we’re confident that we’re going to contend,” King said. “Every time he’s on the mound, we know we have a chance to win, and our defense plays behind him because he gets in a rhythm.”
Swingle’s poise led to a no-hitter through 4.1 innings pitched before Evan MacMillan recorded the Arabians’ lone hit in the bottom of the fifth. Swingle responded in the sixth by striking out the side and five straight prior to the game-ending ground out.
“I didn’t even know (I had a no-hitter) until I looked up at the scoreboard and saw it,” Swingle said. “It was exciting.”
Besting a team three times in one season, on the other hand, was no easy task, but the Marauders were up to the challenge.
“I can’t remember a time we’ve done that, especially going into sectional when we’ve always struggled against them every year we’ve played them. To be able to put up runs the way we did against their best guy it was exciting,” Swingle said. “It was one of the best games we’ve played all around.”
The Marauders chased Pendleton Heights starter Richard Howell (1.88 ERA, 4-2) in 3.1 innings after building a 4-0 lead.
Mt. Vernon jumped ahead 1-0 after the top of the second following a walk drawn by Stank (1-for-3, two RBI), a ground-rule double by Walton (3-for-3) and an RBI single from Eli Bridenthal (2-for-4).
In the third, the Marauders’ hitters went to work again.
“We knew we could hit. We’ve faced this guy before, and when you see somebody twice, it becomes a lot easier. He’s a really good pitcher and we did really well of hitting his fastball and slider,” Mt. Vernon senior Hunter Dobbins said. “We always hit the ball. Whenever we win, it’s always when we hit the ball.”
Sect 9 finals: AJ Swingle pitches complete-game 1-hitter, Stank w/2-run HR, Walton 3-for-3 w/pair of doubles, Dobbins RBI 2B and Marauders win in 8-0 shutout over Pendleton Heights for Sect 9 championship @GDRsports @mvmarauders pic.twitter.com/Dn2es0Hjvh
— Rich Torres (@RichTorres23) May 31, 2021
Dobbins made it 2-0 with a one-out RBI double in the third, bringing Landon Clark (1-for-4) home after he reached on an error to lead off the inning.
Dobbins, who is hitting .577 (45-for-78) with 10 home runs, added to his team-leading RBI (39) count and connected for his 12th double of the year.
Stank rewarded his teammate with a two-run bomb that soared out over the left-field fence for his fourth home run on the season.
“When he hit that ball, we knew we were going to eat up this guy. I told them in the first inning, let a few innings go by and we’ll probably have zero hits or a few hits, but we’re going to get on him at some point,” Dobbins said. “Then, that third inning, it all happened right there.”
The Marauders racked up five hits through three innings — six total against Howell — and forced the Arabians to utilize a pair of relievers. Mt. Vernon had nine hits in the game, with four extra-base knocks.
Walton had two doubles, while Bridenthal drove in two runs on a pair of singles in the second and during Mt. Vernon’s four-run fifth.
“It really set the tone for the game, getting on him early. It kind of brought their moral down and really setup the rest of the game,” Stank said. “They say, it’s usually difficult to beat a team twice. Three times is harder, so I’m glad we could come out and put it away.”
Mt. Vernon finalized its lead behind a four-run top of the fifth. The offense capitalized on two hits, one of two Arabians’ errors and a pair of wild pitches that scored two runs.
Swingle kicked off the rally with a lead-off single, followed by a Dobbins’ walk, a Stank fielder’s choice and a hit batter while a wild pitch made it 5-0 before Bridenthal drove in a run.
A wild pitch with senior Nate Weaver at the plate and the bases loaded plated a run and another one brought home Bridenthal. Bovard, who advanced on the second wild pitch, scored on a fielding error for an attempted tag down the third-base line during the scramble.
“Pendleton is a great program, and over the years, you come into Pendleton and they’re just so scrappy. They have a shot every time they play, and when it’s tournament time, it seems that something always happens to benefit them,” King said. “Today, we got a couple little breaks. It’s a great win. It’s a great win for our program, top to bottom.”
It’s also historic, and now the Marauders have a chance to chase down the program’s first regional title since 1971 for the potential trifecta.
The team’s previous sectional championships came in 1971, ‘72, ‘75, ‘84, ‘95 and 2011 (3A). The HHC title marked Mt. Vernon’s second (2009, co-champions). The previous wins record stood at 21 set in 1991.
“This is No. 8 for sectionals at the school. No team with 20 wins. There was only one other who’s ever won a conference championship or a sectional, so these kids, we talked to them the other day about being trailblazers. That’s what they are,” King said. “We’ve never been in this territory before, but they’re blazing a trail for future Marauder teams.”
