Ty Stultz was aware of what was going on Sunday, even though he tried not to be.
“I tried to keep that out of my mind,” he said after pitching a no-hitter for Wayne Newton Post 346 over John E. Heyen Post 501 in the American Legion baseball regional championship game at Terre Haute North. “I was staying as far away from everybody as I can; I didn’t want to jinx it.”
In the second pitching masterpiece between the two teams in 25 hours, Wayne Newton won 2-0 and got just one hit itself, which didn’t figure in the scoring. Stultz walked two batters in the top of the first inning but retired the last 19 batters he faced.
“I found my command and went with it,” he said after a 12-strikeout performance.
“Stultz was on today. He had everything working,” said West Terre Haute manager Culley DeGroote. “We barreled some balls, but right at people.”
Wayne Newton won its regional by not allowing a run in three games. Post 501 finished 2-2 despite outscoring its opponents 25-4. Both teams play in the state finals next weekend.
“Hats off to them. They’ve got a really great pitching staff,” DeGroote said.
“It’s nice when all you need is a couple of runs,” said Post 346 manager Cole Whitlock. “I wish we’d have put up a couple more, but I’ve got a lot of confidence in our pitchers.”
West Terre Haute’s Peyton Powers was pretty good himself. He allowed a two-out double to Riley Huckaby in the bottom of the second but a big defensive play by shortstop Jayce Noblitt got him out of the inning. Powers walked one batter and hit two before perhaps tiring in the bottom of the fifth.
Three walks and a sacrifice fly — by Stultz — gave Wayne Newton a 1-0 lead, and the insurance run came in the sixth when Huckaby walked, stole second and scored on a sharply hit ball by Jackson Pierce that wasn’t played.
Pierce, who scored the go-ahead run, robbed Colton Enyeart of a hit in the fifth inning by snagging a line drive at close range and Caden Schrader, who had been robbed on a similar play by Enyeart, preserved the no-hitter with a backhanded stop and throw — first baseman Ross Olson also did his part — to thwart Brandon Dailey leading off the seventh inning.
In Saturday games:
The quality of baseball was much better than a night earlier for the second day of the American Legion baseball regional.
“Bonus baseball,” said manager Culley DeGroote of John E. Heyen Post 501, which defeated Clay County Post 2 7-1 in Saturday’s second game, after losing 1-0 to host (and state finals host) Wayne Newton Post 346 1-0. “Two great pitching outings, clean baseball . . . that was fun.”
There were supposed to be three games Saturday at Terre Haute North, but the Indianapolis Hornets — who lost 18-0 to DeGroote’s team in Friday’s first game — were unable to find enough players to return for their elimination game against Clay County.
That forfeit set up what proved to be a doubleheader for the West Terre Haute team, but allowing just one run in each game proved to be a successful formula for moving on to the championship round.
Saturday’s opener was a beautifully played game and a beautifully pitched game, with Wayne Newton’s Jackson Thoma and Post 501’s Garrett Porter combining to allow just seven hits, one walk and two hit batters while both teams played errorless baseball.
Porter allowed two hits to Brady Weidenbenner, who was stranded at third after a one-out double in the bottom of the first and then was thrown out stealing by Post 501’s Reese Wilbur in the bottom of the fourth.
But in the bottom of the fifth, Riley Huckaby hit a line drive over third base for a leadoff double, got to third on a perfectly placed bunt single by Ross Olson and scored when Jackson Pierce hit into a fielder’s choice.
Jayce Noblitt had two hits for Post 501 and Wilbur had a two-out hit in the top of the sixth, but Thoma allowed just one runner as far as second base.
“West Terre Haute is a really tough team, very fundamentally sound,” Post 346 manager Cole Whitlock said after the 82-minute game ended. “We had to come out with our “A” game.
“Jackson Thoma pitched a great game,” Whitlock continued. “Our bats struggled, but we found a way to get it done. Our pitching all year has done a phenomenal job.”
“Garrett Porter was incredible,” said DeGroote. “He was pitching guys [inside] and changing speeds.”
Defensive gems in the game were recorded early by Post 501’s Peyton Powers, Zach Rogers and J.J. Johnson, while Thoma got some late help from big plays by Isaak Osborne, Jackson Pierce and Ty Stultz.
Saturday’s second game wasn’t quite as perfectly played, including a bizarre first-inning sequence during which Post 501 scored its first run and then a triple play that involved some dubious decision-making. But a gutty performance on the mound by Colton Enyeart, who had pitched the first two innings of Friday’s win for West Terre Haute, was the difference.
West Terre Haute got the first-inning lead when Porter led off with a single, was bunted to second by Jayce Noblitt and Brandon Dailey was intentionally walked. Wilbur hit a popup into short left field that was dropped, and a potential force out at third base was thrown away.
Clay County catcher Wyatt Johnson backed up the throw, but left the plate to do so and Porter headed toward the vacant base. Pitcher Mason Camp got to the plate in time to take the throw from Johnson for the out, but Dailey had reached third base in the confusion and scored a couple of pitches later on a passed ball.
The second inning was the crucial one, however. Post 501 got a run on a hit by Chase Hedden, a botched fielder’s choice and an RBI single by J.J. Johnson, but Camp struck out the next two batters. Then an RBI single by Dailey, a hit batter, a two-run single by Zach Rogers and an RBI single by Enyeart bumped the lead to 6-0.
“West Vigo had some clutch hits and did a lot of damage with two outs in that inning,” noted Clay County manager Nathan Stoelting later. “That was pretty much the game: they got clutch hits and we didn’t.”
Clay County got its run in the third on a two-out walk to Johnson and an RBI double by Trey Dayhoff. West Terre Haute scored in the top of the fifth on a walk, a hit batter and a throwing error that left runners at second and third with nobody out.
Johnson then lined the ball to center field but was robbed of a hit by Logan Stoelting. Post 501’s runner at third base had tagged up but was thrown out at the plate, and Post 501’s other runner had not tagged up and was thrown out by Johnson as the runner tried to get back to second. “A typical 8-2-4 triple play,” Nathan Stoelting quipped later.
Clay County tried to rally in the bottom of the fifth, but Enyeart pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation. Enyeart also stranded two Clay County baserunners in the sixth.
“I went out [to the mound] in the fifth because it looked like [Enyeart] was getting tired,” DeGroote said after the game, “but he didn’t want to come out . . . all summer long that’s what he’s done, gone deep in ballgames and thrown strikes.”
Although Clay County won’t return on Sunday — and ran short of players at the end of the season — its manager was happy about Post 2’s return to American Legion baseball.
“I was really impressed with the competition we saw this year,” Stoelting said. “We’re looking forward to it again next year.”
Gavin McMains had two hits and a defensive gem for Clay County.
WEST TERRE HAUTE (AB-R-H-RBI) — Porter p 3-0-0-0, Noblitt ss 3-0-2-0, Dailey cf 3-0-0-0, Wilbur c 3-0-1-0, Rogers 1b 2-0-0-0, Enyeart 3b 3-0-0-0, Hedden rf 2-0-0-0, Powers 2b 2-0-0-0, Johnson lf 2-0-0-0. Totals 23-0-3-0.
WAYNE NEWTON (AB-R-H-RBI) — L.Weidenbenner lf 3-0-0-0, B.Weidenbenner cf 3-0-2-0, Stultz 1b 3-0-0-0, Schrader ss 2-0-0-0, Black dh 2-0-0-0, Huckaby 2b 2-1-1-0, Olson c 2-0-1-0, Pierce 3b 2-0-0-1, Osborne rf 2-0-0-0. Totals 21-1-4-1.
West Terre Haute 000 000 0 — 0 Wayne Newton 000 010 x — 1
LOB — WTH 4, WN 3. 2B — B.Weidenbenner, Huckaby. CS — B.Weidenbenner. SH — Powers.
West Terre Haute IP H R ER BB SO Porter (L) 6 4 1 1 0 2 Wayne Newton IP H R ER BB SO Thoma (W) 7 3 0 0 1 9
HBP — by Porter (Schrader), by Thoma (Hedden). T — 1:22.
WEST TERRE HAUTE (AB-R-H-RBI) — Porter rf 4-0-1-0, Noblitt ss 3-0-1-0, Dailey cf 3-2-2-1, Wilbur c 3-1-0-0, Rogers 1b 3-0-1-2, Enyeart p 3-1-1-1, Hedden 3b 2-1-1-0, Powers 2b 4-1-1-0, Johnson lf 3-1-1-1. Totals 28-7-9-5.
CLAY COUNTY (AB-R-H-RBI) — Johnson c 3-1-1-0, T.Dayhoff 1b 3-0-1-1, Bradbury ss 3-0-1-0, Kreiger 3b-lf 3-0-0-0, Stoelting cf 3-0-0-0, McMains 2b 3-0-2-0, Camp p-3b 3-0-1-0, Cooper lf-rf 3-0-1-0, N.Dayhoff rf 1-0-0-0, Moore p 1-0-0-0. Totals 26-1-7-1.
West Terre Haute 150 010 0 — 7 Clay County 001 000 0 — 0
E — Bradbury, Moore. TP — CC 1. LOB — WTH 7, CC 6. 2B — T.Dayhoff. SB — Noblitt, Powers, Dailey. CS — Johnson, T.Dayhoff. SH — Noblitt.
West Terre Haute IP H R ER BB SO Enyeart (W) 7 7 1 1 2 5 Clay County IP H R ER BB SO Camp (L) 3 7 6 5 1 3 Moore 4 2 1 0 1 2
HBP — by Camp (Rogers), by Camp (Wilbur), by Moore (Hedden), by Moore (Hedden). PB — Johnson. T — 1:47.
WEST TERRE HAUTE (AB-R-H-RBI) — Porter 2b 3-0-0-0, Noblitt ss 3-0-0-0, Dailey c 2-0-0-0, Wilbur dh-p 2-0-0-0, Powers p 0-0-0-0, Rogers 1b 3-0-0-0, Enyeart 3b 2-0-0-0, Hedden rf 2-0-0-0, Johnson lf 2-0-0-0, Cobb cf 2-0-0-0. Totals 21-0-0-0.
WAYNE NEWTON (AB-R-H-RBI) — L.Weidenbenner 2b 3-0-0-0, B.Weidenbenner cf 1-0-0-0, Stultz p 2-0-0-1, Schrader ss 3-0-0-0, Black lf 3-0-0-0, Huckaby c 1-1-1-0, Olson 1b 2-0-0-0, Pierce 3b 2-1-0-0, Osborne rf 1-0-0-0. Totals 18-2-1-1.
E — Noblitt. LOB — WTH 2, WN 6. 2B — Huckaby. SB — Huckaby.
West Terre Haute IP H R ER BB SO Powers (L) 4.1 1 1 1 4 0 Wilbur 1.2 0 1 0 2 0
HBP — by Powers (B.Weidenbenner), by Powers (Huckaby). WP — Stultz. T — 1:29.
Next — Wayne Newton Post 346 (30-7) and John E. Heyen Post 501 (9-13-1) play in the state finals beginning Friday at Terre Haute North. Clay County finished 11-8.
