Five storylines to watch entering 2025 IHSAA baseball state tournament
The road to Victory Field for the IHSAA baseball state championship begins Wednesday.
Here are five storylines to watch for once postseason play begins.
You could make an argument that every team in Sectional 8 (Hamilton Southeastern, Fishers, Zionsville, Noblesville, Westfield and Carmel) has a legitimate shot at playing for a Class 4A title. Unfortunately, two title contenders won't make it out of the first day of the tournament.
I'm not from Indiana. Maybe baseball fans prefer the current tournament format. My first job covering high school sports was in Massachusetts. Massachusetts uses power rankings that weighs average margin of victory, opponent ratings, team's overall rating (avg. margin + opponent rating) and the team's rating are adjusted for forfeits. The results are entered into a formula, and a power ranking is produced, allowing each team in a division to be seeded. I think it would be great for the regular season to have added meaning. Yes, baseball can be very random. A hot pitcher or a hot team can string together wins and get all the way to the state championship game. But I think rewarding teams with tough schedules, and teams with great regular seasons would be great too.
Lake Central won a thrilling Class 4A state title over Mooresville in the longest championship game ever last season. Lake Central entered the season as the team to beat, and the Indians once again appear poised for a deep title run.
Kentucky commit Joshua Flores is one of the top pitchers in the state. The righty is 7-0 with a 1.69 ERA and 57 strikeouts over 29 innings. Sophomore shortstop Parker Robinson is a top-120 prospect nationally per Prep Baseball Report. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound righty is batting .338 with 15 RBI, 10 doubles and seven stolen bases. Senior Drew Kosteba leads Lake Central with a .407 batting average, 36 RBIs, eight doubles, three triples and three home runs.
Five of Lake Central's top seven batters are seniors. LC has three senior pitchers with ERAs under 2.20. The reigning champs are as deep as ever and the road to the 4A championship will likely go through the Indians.
Cathedral won its first baseball state championship in 2001 playing in Class 3A. The Fighting Irish won state titles in 2007 and 2017 in Class 4A. Now the Irish are back in Class 3A and have a great chance at making a deep tournament run.
Cathedral enters the tournament 17-9, but its daunting schedule should have the squad ready for the postseason. Cathedral has quality wins over Franklin, Mooresville and Carmel. The Irish lost by one to 4A title contender Center Grove and led reigning 4A champion Lake Central 2-0.
Shortstop Army commit Eli Sinsabaugh is an elite table setter at the top of the lineup. IU commit Eli Bennett is a smooth-swinging lefty slugger. Senior Bo Cooper is a plus defender behind the plate, and Landon Hughes and Ethan Dorsey combine for a strong 1-2 punch on the mound.
A dominant pitcher can carry a team through the postseason. These pitchers may be on teams without great records, but when they take the mound, their teams can hang with anyone in the state.
The junior is 1-3 with 4.08 ERA and 63 strikeouts over 46⅓ innings. Carnes notched double-digits strikeouts twice, striking out 10 against Connersville and 11 against Warren Central.
The DePauw commit has a 1-2 record with a 2.62 ERA and 48 strikeouts over 21⅓ innings.
The South Florida commit has a 4-2 record with a 2.57 ERA and 53 strikeouts over 30 innings.
The Dayton commit is 1-1 with a 3.43 ERA and 48 strikeouts over 32⅔ innings.
The Mississippi State commit has a 3-2 record with a 1.56 ERA and 63 strikeouts over 31⅓ innings.
The Kentucky commit has a 5-1 record with 51 strikeouts over 37⅔ innings.
There may not be a hotter hitter in the state than Mooresville junior Tyler Denny. Over his last 10 games, Denny is 17-for-32 (.531) with 15 runs scored, 13 RBIs, seven doubles, one triple, three home runs and three stolen bases. He has six multi-hit games, a two-home run game against Plainfield, two five-RBI games and two games with three hits over that span.
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