For the first time in 12 years, the Monroe Central baseball team hoisted an IHSAA sectional trophy.
The Golden Bears emerged as champions of Class 1A Sectional 56 this past week. Monroe Central defeated Mid-Eastern Conference rival Blue River Valley, 4-3, in the semifinals on Saturday, May 30, then took care of Cambridge City Lincoln in five innings with a 16-1 championship round victory Monday, June 1, to clinch their first sectional title since 2014.
“These guys have put in so much work,” Monroe Central coach Sean Richardson said in a phone call interview with The Star Press following the championship game. “They’ve battled through some adversity. We’ve been hurt half the year and just couldn’t really get it together early, then they started playing well and we just kept telling them to believe in yourself and keep going.”
The trophy marked the fourth sectional brought back to Parker City by a Monroe Central athletic team this year. Volleyball won one in the fall, and both girls and boys basketball teams won one in the winter before going on to add regionals.
“First time in 12 years is a big deal,” Richardson said. “The school’s had a lot of success with the basketball programs this year, and that’s one of the things we talked about, like, ‘Hey, let’s keep that momentum going.’ Let’s be the last team standing for the school and make the school proud and keep going.”
Richardson had one word to capture Monroe Central’s semifinal win against Blue River Valley — grit. The Golden Bears got on the board early with a four-run second inning thanks to an RBI single by senior Kyler Bogue and a two-RBI single by junior Carson Siekmann, who eventually scored his own run on a passed ball.
However, the bats were silenced after that inning with only one more hit and no more runs allowed by Blue River. The Vikings nearly rallied back with one run in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth, but the Golden Bears’ defense held off the comeback.
Junior Isaac Middleton pitched the win, surrendering three runs (one unearned) on three hits and three walks with eight strikeouts in five innings of work, and sophomore Myles Oliphant finished it off in the last two innings, giving up one hit and no walks with one strikeout.
“They threw a good arm at us to start, and we were not ready for it,” Richardson said. “I told the guys, ‘This is going to be one of those games where you’re going to have to grind it out.’ Stay clean, and we’ll have the opportunity. We had a tough start to that game with bases loaded and nobody out, got out without scoring, came out in the second inning and threw four runs on the board.
“That changed the game pretty quick. When you go up 4-0, Isaac was able to get himself back together, keep us in the game and give us five really good innings, and then Myles came in and shut it down.”
After the grit-and-grind postseason opener, it was smooth sailing for Monroe Central in the sectional championship. The Golden Bears got after it early with three runs in each of the first and third innings, then put the game firmly into run-rule territory with a 10-run explosion in the fourth. They dominated Cambridge City Lincoln at the plate with 18 total base hits, eight of which went for extra bases. Nine different Golden Bears recorded at least one hit, and five of them recorded a multi-hit game.
Sophomore infielder Caleb Luedike pieced together an elite two-way performance to lift Monroe Central to victory over Cambridge City Lincoln. He finished a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with one RBI and pitched all five innings of the win, surrendering one unearned run on just two hits and one walk while ringing up nine strikeouts.
After going 0-for-4 at the plate in the sectional semifinal, Luedike put the slow day behind him and locked in to clinch the sectional title.
“The Blue River game was rough,” Luedike said. “I didn’t feel great that morning, just felt kind of sluggish. Not getting discouraged, staying positive, made a couple of adjustments with my swing and felt a lot better today, just doing what I know I can do. It means so much, this team is special, they’re so much fun, and it just means the world to me.”
Monroe Central will seek its first baseball regional championship in school history on Saturday, June 6. The Golden Bears will take on Sectional 55 champion North Miami at a site to be announced by the IHSAA on Wednesday, June 3.
Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Monroe Central baseball claims first IHSAA sectional title since 2014