By BEAU WICKER
WALTON — It’s already been a historic season for Lewis Cass’ baseball team. Now the Kings are looking for more.
Cass (19-8), which won its first-ever regional title this past weekend, faces No. 7-ranked Hammond Bishop Noll (24-8) in a one-game Class 2A semistate at noon Saturday at Coveleski Stadium in South Bend. The other 2A semistate pits No. 9 Heritage Christian (23-6) versus Evansville Mater Dei (20-12) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Jasper.
Hammond Noll has won five semistate titles, the last coming in 2006, and two state championships — 1968 and 2004 (2A). This year’s Warriors squad won its regional title with a 6-1 win over Fairfield in the semifinal and a 6-4 win over fourth-ranked Boone Grove in the final. The Warriors cruised to their sectional title.
“I know Noll is very talented,” Cass coach Greg Marschand said. “I know they play bigger schools up in the Region. They have speed, they like to put pressure on the defense and force you to make mistakes and force the game into your hand. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but it’s a great opportunity and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
Noll has eight starters back from last season. Senior ace Tony Balcazar is 7-3 this season with an ERA around 2.00. He pitched the Warriors to their regional semifinal win and closed out the regional final by pitching the seventh inning. The Warriors have a deep pitching staff, with senior Eric Escamilla and junior Matt Pobereyko posting similar numbers to Balcazar. Pobereyko got the win over Boone Grove.
“We know it’s going to be a good game,” Cass senior Keith Lee said. “They’ve got a good fastball pitcher, and we’ve been practicing a lot this week. We’re coming in this game thinking we’re going to do pretty well. We’ve got both of our best pitchers [Andrew Troutman and Evan Depew] ready to go, and then we have [Damon] Foreman and [Colton] Zeck ready to step in if they need to. We’re pretty confident.
“We get to play at a good field against a good opponent, so we’re ready to go.”
The Kings reached the semistate with wins over Southwood, Manchester and Northfield in their sectional and wins over Tipton and ninth-ranked Bluffton in their regional.
Brody Edgerly is hitting a team-high .443 with a home run and 27 RBIs for the Kings. Lee is batting .422 with a home run, 26 RBIs and a team-high 36 runs scored. Damon Foreman is the third King batting better than .400, with a .414 average, and he has 22 runs scored and 18 RBIs.
Zeck is batting .353 with a team-high five home runs, seven doubles and 28 RBIs. Drew Fowler has stolen a team-high 16 stolen bases.
