Mt. Vernon’s Nick Heitman hit a three-run double to get the Marauders to the sectional championship game.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — Mt. Vernon avenged last year’s sectional championship game loss, but it didn’t come easy.
Ranked 10th in the Indiana Prep Baseball Report Class 4A poll, the Marauders needed a late-game rally to beat Anderson 5-2 in a semifinal game of Sectional 9 at Mt. Vernon High School Saturday.
Mt. Vernon (22-7) scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to defeat upset-minded Anderson (12-18), putting the Marauders in a sectional championship game for the third straight year.
Trailing 2-1, the Marauders got some help from the Indians.
To lead off the inning, Nathan Criss drew a walk and Grant Payson reached on an error. With one out, DJ Scheumann was intentionally walked. It came back to haunt Anderson as Nick Heitman laced a double to left field, scoring all three runners to give Mt. Vernon a 4-2 lead.
They added an insurance run in the fifth.
“That’s the mentality of the team, we just keep playing,” Mt. Vernon coach Brad King said about his team’s comeback. “You can’t a couple of bad innings define the game. I thought we did a nice job responding after they took the lead.”
Joe Wilson got the start on the mound. He was relieved in the fifth by Jack Peine, who picked up his third win.
Peine retired seven of eight batters faced, giving up only a two-out seventh-inning single.
Mt. Vernon took a 1-0 lead in the second. Russell Weaver had a one-out single. He was forced out at second base on a Wilson ground ball. Courtesy runner Josh James moved to second on a Cam Sullivan single to right field and quickly went to third when the right fielder bobbled the ball. When the outfielder delayed throwing the ball back into the infield, James took off for home to score the game’s first run.
Mt. Vernon 5, Anderson 2
Anderson (12-18);000;020;0; —;2;3;2
Mt. Vernon (22-7);010;031;x —;5;3;0
Drew Baker, Kairo Parks (5) and Brogan Waymire. Joe Wilson, Jack Peine (5) and DJ Scheumann. 2B: A — Baker. MV— Nick Heitman. WP: Peine (3-0). LP: Parks.
