MORRISTOWN -- When Morristown missed its chance to take the lead, Indianapolis Lutheran capitalized.
Ryan Redding ripped a full-count offering into the gap to score Nate Hughes in the bottom of the fifth inning for what turned out to be the sectional semifinal game’s only run.
Lutheran eliminated Morristown from Sectional 59 Saturday, 1-0. The Saints (16-11) will face either Greenwood Christian or Indianapolis Metropolitan, making its first sectional appearance, Monday in the championship game.
Hughes needed help to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the top half of the fifth inning and Hudson Mills threw just one pitch to get the third out of the inning. The lefty then struck out five of the seven batters he faced in the final two innings to secure the win.
Grant Kessler took the hard-luck loss for Morristown (12-12). The lefty surrendered seven hits but struck out 10 Saints and saw his defense make several outstanding plays.
“I challenged them to play clean baseball and they did just that for me,” said Morristown head coach Brandon Kessler. “I couldn’t ask for more.”
Hughes only allowed two Yellow Jackets to reach second base in the first four innings but ran into trouble in the fifth when he hit Owen Rinzel, allowed a Dyllan Rutledge single and hit Kessler to load the bases and bring Bryce Bryant to the plate.
Bryant was aggressive on the first pitch he saw from Mills but grounded out to end the inning.
“We couldn’t piece a couple of hits together,” said Kessler. “It was a little frustrating. I couldn’t say enough about our hitting, it just wasn’t timely hitting. We’ve been struggling with the sticks the last couple games and that part I was pleased with (today). We just couldn’t put a couple together.”
Bryant, a junior, came into the sectional semifinal hitting a team-leading .594.
“There is nobody more frustrated than that young man right there,” said Kessler of Bryant. “He is leading the conference in hitting and ranked pretty high in the state. He has a solid stick and always has.”
Kessler worked out of a jam in the bottom of the first inning and kept the Saints in check the entire game.
Hughes produced a one-out single in the fifth inning and leadoff hitter Jackson Brandenburg sacrifice bunted him to second. Hughes stole third base and scored when Redding doubled into the left-centerfield gap.
Morristown matched its 2022 season record and finished third in the Mid-Hoosier Conference standings. Graduation will take Rutledge (.391 batting average), Zachary Noel (.368), Tyler Schonfeld (.295), Kamdyn Gaines (Morristown’s starting centerfield Saturday) and Kessler, a Mount St. Joseph commit, who finished with more than 140 strikeouts this season.
“I’m pretty dang excited,” said Kessler with regard to the state of the baseball program. “With our junior high program, we are almost evenly balanced across the team with 5-6 guys in each class. We’ve got guys coming in from the eighth grade and we will expect a lot more out of our freshmen next year, and sophomores as well.”
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