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Alexander Mitchell's sacrifice fly to right field scored Spencer Anderson capping an amazing comeback by Fort Wayne Snider in a 3-2 eight inning win in the Class 4A state championship game at Victory Field.

It was the second baseball state championship in four seasons for unranked Snider (25-3) whose 2006 state championship also came in eight innings.

Westfield, with a 2-0 lead, seemingly had the game in hand and was on the cusp of its first baseball state championship when things began to unravel.

Mitchell led off the seventh inning with a single and then scored on Cody Johnson's double that bounced to the wall to make it 2-1. Nicholas Vachon then entered as a pinch runner for Johnson. After a strike out and a sacrifice fly to center that moved Vachon to third, Thomas Zumbaugh, with two strikes against him, reached out and made enough contact with the ball to find the gap between the first and second basemen scoring Vachon to knot the game at 2-2. Lukas Richardson went down swinging to end the inning.

After Westfield left a runner on base in the top of the eighth, Anderson doubled to right center to lead off the Snider eighth and then moved to third on a wild pitch. Westfield opted to load the bases with no outs by intentionally walking the next two batters, but Mitchell's sacrifice fly scored the game-winner.

Unranked Westfield tallied 11 hits but could only generate the two runs in the second inning. Andrew McCafferty tripled to center scoring Taylor Luna from second and then Nick Crouse singled down the right field line scoring McCafferty. The Shamrocks stranded 12 runners on base.

For Snider and 17th year coach Andy Owen, it was their fourth straight win by two or less runs. Westfield and seventh year coach Ryan Bunnell ended 24-6.

DRAKE EVERSON NAMED MENTAL ATTITUDE AWARD WINNER
Drake Everson of Fort Wayne Snider High School was recognized by members of the IHSAA Executive Committee as this year's recipient of the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award in Class 4A baseball.

The award is presented annually to an outstanding senior participant who has demonstrated excellence in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability. The award is named in honor of the late L.V. Phillips, who served as the second commissioner of the IHSAA from 1945-1962.

The starting pitcher is a three time varsity letter winner in the sport of baseball and was a member of the Panthers' 2006 state championship team. He was named First Team All Summit Athletic Conference (SAC) in 2008 and 2009, and helped take his team to an SAC Championship in 2006, 2008, and 2009. He also made the Prep Baseball Report's Top 100.

Everson graduated 34th out of 467 with an astounding 4.08 GPA, and scored a 1560 on his SAT. He is a four-year Academic Letter winner and the recipient of the President's Award for Outstanding Educational Excellence. Everson is undecided about his college plans at this time.

He is the son of Michael and Janet Everson of Fort Wayne.

Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, the corporate partner of the IHSAA, presented a $1,000 scholarship to Fort Wayne Snider High School in the name of Drake Everson.