Once 7-14, Covenant Christian is playing for the Class 2A baseball state title
MOORESVILLE – It was early May when the Covenant Christian baseball team was in the midst of a four-game losing streak and had twice as many losses (14) as it did wins (seven).
No matter.
The Warriors got hot when it counted and are moving on to the Class 2A state championship game next weekend at Victory Field following their 10-6 win over Heritage Christian in Saturday’s semistate championship game in Mooresville.
Covenant Christian (16-15) will face No. 10 Illiana Christian (24-9) for the state crown. The championship games for the four classes will be played Friday and Saturday, with the order of games still to be determined.
“We’re just getting hot at the right time,” said junior catcher Nolan Jones, who went 3-for-3 against the Eagles with his team-high third home run of the season to go with three RBIs. “We play one of the toughest schedules in the game. I think that’s what prepares us for these games. Whenever the score gets close, we’re ready. Even if we get down, we’ll be there punching right back.”
The Warriors did their damage early, scoring three in the top of the first, two more on Jones’ shot in the second, and another run in the third on an RBI single by junior shortstop Ty Gillespie to take a 6-0 lead.
By the start of the third inning, the Eagles were on their third pitcher. However, Heritage Christian (18-16) didn’t go without a fight. The Eagles scored three in the third to cut the lead to 6-3.
“We knew that we were going to have to try to show them different pitchers,” said Eagles coach Dan Ambrose. “We tried it, but it didn’t work as well as we wanted.”
Senior pitcher Brad Nardi went the distance for Covenant Christian, striking out nine over seven innings. The Eagles made it tough on the Rose-Hulman commit, scoring a pair in the top of the fifth and loading the bases in the sixth with the tying run at the plate and Eagles standout slugger Andrew Wiggins on deck. But Nardi got a big strikeout to escape the jam unscathed, pumping his arms as his team greeted him in celebration near the dugout.
“It was a really stressful situation to pull out of that,” Nardi said. “Allowing no runs there was big. Especially late in the game like that.”
Covenant Christian got production throughout its lineup with eight different players combining for 14 hits.
Wiggins, an Indiana recruit, finished 1-for-2 with an RBI and run scored.
Already a season of firsts with the program’s first regional and semistate championships, the Warriors are now one win away from their first state championship.
“The focus is on giving everything we’ve got for this last week,” said Warriors coach Chris Stevenson. “I’m very proud of the boys and the work they’ve put in. It’s about fine tuning and staying sharp for the state championship game.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school baseball: Covenant Christian beats Heritage Christian
