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Dragons upset 59ers for 3A crown, send skipper off in style
INDIANAPOLIS – Joe Decker couldn’t have dreamed of a better send off, but even he was in mild disbelief Friday night at Victory Field.
In his final game ever coaching baseball for his alma mater Silver Creek, Decker’s Dragons not only achieved what no other team had done prior in program history.
They accomplished what no Class 3A team could do in 18 years: upend perennial baseball powerhouse Andrean in downtown Indianapolis.
“I couldn’t write it any different. Hey, how do you want to go out? I don’t know, beat Andrean in the state championship. That’ll do,” Decker remarked after his Dragons toppled defending state champion Andrean, 4-2, to win their first-ever IHSAA 3A state crown. “That’s as good as it gets.”
To call Decker’s 449th career win at Silver Creek – and 553rd overall – an expectation would have been a mistake given the odds, but the Dragons had one mission in mind Friday night during their second state finals appearance all time, and they got to work early.
Scoring all four of their runs with two outs, the Dragons (26-7) built a 3-1 lead by plating one in each of the first three frames and added a fourth off a Spencer Durham (2-for-2) RBI single in the bottom of the sixth.
On the mound, sophomore Preston Burton pitched a complete game with seven hits allowed, two walks, and four strikeouts and escaped a bases-loaded threat in the top of the sixth, while the Silver Creek defense turned three clutch double plays to halt Andrean’s run in state title games at eight straight.
Andrean (28-7-1) hadn’t lost at Victory Field in a state title game since falling short against New Palestine, 3-2, in 2004.
The 59ers had won eight 3A state titles in nine finals appearances since 2004, including one at Loeb Stadium in Lafayette (2005), which launched an 8-1 span that involved back-to-back championship finals in 2009-10, 2014-15 and 2018-19.
“We played them back in 2018, and they beat the snot out of us, 6-1. It was one of those things going out that I knew this is how it’s going to go.
We’re going to play Andrean, and win or lose, I knew that’s how it would end,” Decker said.
Unlike five years ago, however, the rematch sided with the Dragons, as they played spoiler by preventing Andrean head coach Dave Pishkur from collecting career-victory No. 1,100 and the 59ers from distancing themselves with Lafayette Central Catholic (8) and LaPorte (8) for most baseball state titles in tournament history.
“Dude, he’s the best. I don’t know if I slept six hours this week trying to prepare for them. They do a great job. Their program is phenomenal.
(Pishkur) is the bar that we all try to get to, and he’s a phenomenal coach,” Decker said. “For me to win my last game against him, I’m always going to have that one. Hey, I’m always going to have that one. My last game, I beat Dave Pishkur, so I’m going to live that one for a while.”
Decker’s quest for a championship conclusion began with a 1-0 deficit in the top of the first inning.
Andrean’s Moises Vazquez (1-for-4) opened the game with a leadoff double and later scored from third base via a one-out RBI single by Tyler Peller (3-for-3) before Silver Creek’s defense turned its first double play to support Burton.
The 59ers kicked off the top of the fourth with a double by Peller, but a relay throw to third caught the junior as he attempted to stretch the extra-base hit. A double play following a single by James Kirk, a Wabash recruit, stymied the potential rally.
Andrean hit into a third double play in the top of the fifth after Noah Chase (1-for-3) reached first with a single before Burton got a strikeout looking to maintain Silver Creek’s 3-1 advantage.
“They deserved to win. We did not deserve to win. They turned three double plays on us. They got two-out base hits on us,” Pishkur said. “We didn’t execute a bunt one situation when we could have scored a run. We had second and third in the bottom of the sixth with one out, and we popped up. Execution wise, they deserved to win the ball game.”
Andrean started the top of the sixth with a leadoff walk and put two runners on base with one out on one of two Silver Creek errors in the game.
An RBI double by Peller cut the deficit 3-2, and a hit by pitch with two outs put Jack Vogt on first to load the bases.
A fielder’s choice ground out induced by Burton ended the rally.
“Leaving the bases loaded was kind of the momentum. I called them out before the start of the (seventh) inning, and I’m like, ‘Hey, take a look at the scoreboard.’ And we looked at the scoreboard, and I’m like, ‘We’re up two runs,’” Decker said. “We’re still in the lead, trying to calm them down. The sixth inning was the game. Us getting out of it without them tying it was so big.”
It made up for their lost opportunity in the bottom of the fifth, as the Dragons led off with a single by Dane DeWees (1-for-4), a walk and an error that put Jace Burton, an Indiana State recruit, on to load the bases.
Garrett Benko, who relieved starter Ivan Matalski (2.0 innings, three hits, a walk and two runs), worked out of the jam with two pop outs and a strikeout. Benko, a St. Xavier commit, went 4.0 innings with five hits surrendered, two runs, two walks issued and four strikeouts.
“We kept in the ball game with the bases loaded, and they had a chance to blow it open in the bottom of the fifth. We get out of the inning, and momentum is on our side. We get a leadoff walk, followed by a hit, followed by a bloop double. Now, we’re second and third. We’re ready to take the lead,” Pishkur said. “Again, they deserved to win.”
A two-out RBI triple by Greyson Durick (2-for-3) put Silver Creek ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the second, and a two-out single by Tyler Bach (1-for-3) made it 3-1 in the third.
“We talked all week. We almost thought like since they’d been here so many times, and they’ve won so many times that they were just coming to collect the trophy you could say. We were thinking like that all week, and the coaches really put that in our minds,” Preston Burton said. “By Thursday night, you’d think we weren’t the underdogs, and we were supposed to win this thing.”
Burton made it a certainty with two quick outs in the top of the seventh before walking one and getting a fielder’s choice ground out to second base that sealed the win.
“It’s unfortunate. You don’t want to lose in the state championship game,” Pishkur said. “Joe is a really good guy. I’m not happy that he won, but I’m happy for him. He’s calling it quits after this year. What a great way to go out. Calling it quits and winning a state championship.”
Decker coached at Silver Creek for 21 seasons, winning the Mid-Southern Conference title this spring, a third straight sectional and fourth regional in five seasons prior to returning to the state finals for one more shot.
“It’s been part of my life my whole life. I went to high school there. I left for a few years and after college, I came back, and I’ve taught there for 27 years. It’s all I know. My kids have gone there. It’s a special place, and I know everyone says that about their school, but it’s a special place to teach. It’s a special place to coach. Our students are second to none and our administration is unbelievable,” Decker said. “I’m just happy for our guys. I can’t tell you how happy I am.
“We have 100 alumni out here that have played. This is for all of them. They’re all a part of this, and they know that. They know this is theirs, too.”
Andrean’s Antonio Barnes named Mental Attitude recipient
At the conclusion of the game, Antonio Barnes of Andrean High School was announced as the recipient of the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award for Class 3A Baseball.
The L.V. Phillips Award is annually presented to an outstanding senior participant in each state championship game who has best demonstrated excellence in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability in baseball.
Antonio is an Academic All-American and was selected for National Youth Leadership for Engineering. Antonio played in the Under Armour All-American Game and was a member of last year’s state championship team as well as his school’s state championship and state runner-up football teams.
Antonio is the son of Antuan and Jacqueline Barnes of Highland, IN and will attend Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology to study electrical engineering.
The award is named in honor of the late L.V. Phillips, who served as the second commissioner of the IHSAA from 1945-62.
Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, the IHSAA's corporate partner, presented $1,000 to the general scholarship fund at Andrean High School in the name of Antonio Barnes.
