Indian Creek baseball eliminated from regional

<p>CRAWFORDSVILLE</p><p>Hot dogs are an integral part of the bill of fare for a baseball game.</p><p>Indian Creek players and fans might understandably pass on them the next time they are at a game.</p><p>The Braves’ quest to win a second straight regional championship ended Saturday because of hot dogs, or to be more specific, the Frankfort Hot Dogs, who stopped the Braves 2-0 in the semifinal round of the Class 3A Crawfordsville Regional.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>For Indian Creek (20-12), a season which began with a lot of promise ends with a lot of that promised fulfilled.</p><p>And what hurt was that the Braves had their chances.</p><p>“That one hurts a lot,” Indian Creek coach Steve Mirizzi said. “We definitely felt like we were more than capable of winning that game. We had multiple opportunities to capitalize, but we had some baserunning mistakes and two errors cost us.</p><p>“We can’t give chances to the other team in the regional.”</p><p>The Braves’ starting pitcher, Xavier-bound Dustin Sprong, put handcuffs on the Frankfort batters for much of the game.</p><p>Sprong struck out nine batters and only gave up two hits — one of them an infield single where the dropped bat seemed to travel farther than the ball in the fourth inning. Sprong also hit a batter and giving up a walk in that frame, and an error on a potential inning-ending double-play later led to an unearned run.</p><p>Two innings later, a two-out bunt RBI single by Roger Angeles landed in a perfect spot and scored Braden Compton, to give the Hot Dogs an insurance run.</p><p>Meanwhile, Frankfort ace Christian Lopez gave the Braves fits, striking out 10.</p><p>&quot;He mixed it up well and kept us off balance,” Mirizzi said. “He gave our guys a different look.”</p><p>Lopez was only in real trouble twice, the first time in the first inning when Sprong whacked a double off him and took third on a passed ball. A strikeout ended that threat, and it was also a strikeout that ended the third, when Indian Creek had batters at first and second with two outs.</p><p>A leadoff double by Clay Key in the seventh inning chased Lopez, and after reliever Jose Valdes walked Devyn Parr, the Braves were seemingly in business, but Phillips then grounded into a double play and Xavier Ferris’ grounder to first ended not only the threat, but the season.</p><p>Indian Creek outhit the Hot Dogs 6-4, but the Braves could not string anything together.</p><p>Mirizzi will have plenty of players back including his entire outfield, but he loses five big players in pitching aces Sprong and Trevor Ankney, Phillips, Parr and catcher Cody Grider.</p><p>“It’s been a heck of a run,” said Mirizzi, whose teams have not only won four straight sectionals and a regional, but consecutive Johnson County tournaments. “Success breeds success and our expectations are still going to be the same as they have been the past four years. We laid the foundation for the future.”</p>