On Friday night the Patriots’ baseball team traveled to Myers Park for a Southwestern 4A Conference game against
the Mustangs at the Jack Sink Field.
Indy went down in order in the top half of the first. In the bottom half of the inning Myers Park’s Vince Chelena was
awarded first base after being hit by a pitch. After a few pitches to the next batter, Chelena tried to steal second but
Indy’s catcher Cooper Fandel’s throw to Ryan Mangum beat Chelena to the bag for the out. Owen Copps reached
on a single and attempted to steal second but was gunned down by Fandel for Myers Park’s second out. John
Owens flied out for the Mustangs to end the inning.
Park High School.
In the second Indy’s Noah Howie reached first on a single. Indy’s pitcher Noah Haislip followed with a triple to right
center scoring Howie. Dylan Giorgio picked up an RBI driving Haislip home on a hard grounder to second. With
one out Michael Menzer and Ryan Mangum both singled putting runners on first and second. With two outs Bubba
Comer stepped in and hit a long single to right center scoring Menzer and Mangum giving Indy a 4-0 lead.
The Patriots picked up another run in the top of the third. Cooper Fandel led off with a single and CJ Brown came
in to run for the catcher. Brown stole second and third. Noah Haislip came to the plate and drove in Brown to give
Indy a 5-0 lead.
Myers Park got on the scoreboard in the bottom half on the inning. Lead off hitter Jack Ahlum went down on strikes
and Charlie Jones flied out for the Mustangs second out. Vince Chelena singled, and Owen Copps reached on an
error. Myers Park’s next batter Patrick Alvarez was hit by a pitch and awarded first to load the bases with two outs.
John Owens singled scoring Chelena and Copps to make the score 5-2.
Indy came fighting back in the top of the fourth scoring five runs on three hits. Matthew Mangum led off with a single.
Bubba Comer reached on an error by Myers Park’s shotstop. The Mustangs intentionally walked Cooper Fandel
loading the bases with one out. Noah Howie followed blasting a double to the right center field wall scoring Magnum
and Comer. With two runs in and two on, Dylan Giorgio walked loading the bases. Michael Menzer came to the
plate and hit a double scoring CJ Brown, who was running for Fandel, as well as Howie and Giorgio giving Indy a
10-2 lead.
In the bottom of the inning Myers Park’s Jack Ahlum scored off Vince Chelena’s triple to make the score 10-3.
Indy went down in order in the top of the fifth.
The Mustangs’ offense exploded in the bottom of the inning. Patrick Alvarez led off for the Mustangs by hitting a
solo home run over the left field wall. John Owens came to the plate and hit a double to left field. David Hutto
drew a walk putting runners on first and second. Michael Hawes reached on an error to the outfield scoring Owens
and Hutto. Bennett Dean singled which brought up Jack Ahlum, who hit the ball to the infield. Indy attempted to
get the lead runner Dean, but the umpire called him safe at second. Charlie Jones singled to load the bases.
Vince Chelena walked scoring Dean. Indy gave up another walk to Owen Copps which brought Ahlum home.
The Mustangs next batter Patrick Alvarez got hit by a pitch scoring Jones from third. Chelena plated on a passed
ball leaving runners on second and third. John Owens stepped to the plate and hit a fly to center. Cops tagged
and came home on the sacrifice fly to put Myers Park in the lead 12-10.
Neither team scored in the sixth, and Indy went down in order in the top of the seventh to end the game.
Independence drops to 9-13 overall and 4-6 in conference play.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Independence 0 4 1 5 0 0 0 10 10 2
Myers Park 0 0 2 1 9 0 X 12 9 3
