A come-from-behind win for the ages.
Snider was being dominated by Westfield’s Kyle Kramp, who only game up 2 hits while posting 10 Ks in the first six innings, and was down to their last strike.
Snider led off the seventh down 2-0, Alex Mitchell singled, Cody Johnson drove a double into deep center field to score Mitchell, and Nick Vachon pinch ran for Johnson and tagged up and went to third on Justin Scott’s fly out to center.
With two outs, senior second baseman Thomas Zumbaugh was the Panthers final hope.
Kramp quickly fired two strikes and with a 0-2 count, Westfield fans on their feet, Zumbaugh singled into the four hole and Vachon came in with the tying run.
In the eighth inning, Alex Mitchell’s sacrifice fly to right field was deep enough to bring home a head-first-sliding Spencer Anderson capping an amazing comeback by Fort Wayne Snider in a 3-2 win in the Class 4A state championship game at Victory Field.
Snider (25-3) captured its second Class 4A baseball championship in four seasons; also beat Indianapolis Cathedral in the eighth inning in 2006.
The Panthers won their 11th straight and had trailed in its last four tournament games; 3-2 deficit to beat Crown Point in semi-state, 6-run rally to defeat Pendleton Heights in regionals, and came back from seven runs to beat McCutcheon for the regional title.
Senior righty Drake Everson, L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award winner, pitched 7 innings with 8 Ks.
Westfield (24-6) posted a two-run second inning when Andrew McCafferty tripled to center scoring Taylor Luna (2-for-4) from second and then Nick Crouse (2-for-4) singled down the right field line scoring McCafferty as the Shamrocks appeared to have its first baseball state championship in hand. Westfield tallied 11 hits, but stranded 12 runners on base.
Kyle Kramp, who was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 45th round of the major league draft, pitched 7 strong innings with 12 strikeouts and centerfielder Zach Galyean was 3-for-5 for the Shamrocks.