<p>INDIANAPOLIS</p>
<p>The Indian Creek baseball team has banked on its stable of pitchers all season long, and the Braves used an outstanding performance from their ace to pass their first test of the postseason.</p>
<p>Trevor Ankney struck out 12 and allowed just one hit through six shutout innings as Indian Creek claimed its third consecutive Class 3A sectional championship with a 2-1 victory at Bishop Chatard on Monday.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>The Braves (22-5) will play in the Crawfordsville Regional on Saturday.</p>
<p>“He pitched his butt off today,” Indian Creek coach Steve Mirizzi said of Ankney. “He doesn’t ever shy away from the moment. He just kept going in there and competing.”</p>
<p>Ankney had to grind his way through the early innings, walking four and needing a fairly heavy pitch load to get through the first four innings, but the Purdue recruit settled down, retiring the last 11 hitters he faced and striking out the side in the sixth.</p>
<p>“The first two innings, (Ankney) got his pitch count way up there, so we knew we would have to go to relief at some point in the game,” Mirizzi said. “I’m just glad he settled in there and gave us a strong six innings.”</p>
<p>Dustin Sprong allowed an unearned run in the seventh but held on to earn the save.</p>
<p>After leaving six runners on over the first four innings, the Braves finally broke the scoreless draw in the fifth. Jared DeHart, still stuck on first with two out after leading off with an infield single, stole second and then came around to score on a base hit up the middle by Dawson Read, who had two of Indian Creek’s six hits.</p>
<p>“We knew our guys on the mound were going to get their job done,” Mirizzi said. “We just knew that somebody was going to have to step up offensively, and that guy today was Dawson Read.”</p>
<p>“Once we scored that one run, it was game over from there,” Ankney added.</p>
<p>The visitors tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh when DeHart drew a one-out walk, took second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a groundout and scored when Sprong reached on an error.</p>
<p>That extra run proved pivotal when Chatard scratched out a run without getting any hits in the seventh. Andrew Sowinski drew a one-out walk and scored on an error with two away, but Sprong retired the final hitter on a groundout to seal it.</p>
<p>The Braves loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first inning but couldn’t push a run across. Chatard, though, returned the favor in the bottom of the inning by also leaving the bases full.</p>
<p>Ankney didn’t face many serious challenges after that — other than the intense heat on the artificial turf playing surface.</p>
<p>“It wore me down a little bit,” he said. “I went (in the dugout) every time and put a cold towel on. … On this turf, it’s like 90 degrees outside, but it’s 110 on there. It burns my feet, gets me super tired.”</p>
<p>The Braves didn’t need to display their pitching depth on Monday, but it figures to come in handy with two regional games possible this Saturday.</p>
<p>Mirizzi, not surprisingly, is feeling confident.</p>
<p>“If we can get it going offensively, I really like our chances to get deep in the tournament,” he said.</p>
