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Jay Lorenz delivered a perfect bunt with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning to score teammate Jake Katchur, giving Providence a 7-6 win against top-ranked Lafayette Central Catholic in the Class 2A baseball championship game.

The fourth-ranked Pioneers (27-3) had loaded the bases on three walks before Lorenz – who finished the day 3-4 with two runs batted in – laid down the bunt that scored Katchur, who was pinch running. It was the first baseball state title for the Scott Hornung-coached Pioneers.

The finish capped a back-and-forth contest that saw the Knights (33-2) making their state-record ninth appearance in the state finals including back-to-back appearances in the 2A final. Lafayette Central Catholic, coached by Tim Bordenet, was trying to win its eighth baseball title, which would have tied it with LaPorte for the most in state history.

Providence got on the board first, taking advantage of a leadoff double by Parker Graf in the bottom of the second. Graf would steal second and, with two outs, come home on an infield single by Jay Lorenz.

But LCC came right back in the third. Luke Schrader led off with a double and Anthony Berumen followed with a single, moving Schrader to third. Adam Lovell reached on an error, driving home Schrader in the process.

Coy Cronk the doubled to bring in Berumen, and Lovell came home on a throwing error on the same play, giving the Knights a 3-1 lead.

A five-run rally in the bottom of the fourth inning pushed the Pioneers in front 6-3. With one out, Joe Wilkinson walked, and Lorenz and Juston Betz each singled. Brett Aria was hit by a pitch to score Wilkinson, and Jake Lewis hit a line drive into center field that brought home Lorenz, Betz and Aria. Lewis wound up at third and then came home on Timmy Borden’s sacrifice bunt.

The Knights tied the game two innings later. Jackson Anthrop and Tyler Powers sandwiched a pair of singles around an out, and Luke Schrader walked to load the bases. Berumen then drew a walk to plate Anthony.

Lovell’s grounder to shortstop forced Berumen, but a throwing error to first allowed Powers and Schrader to come around and score, tying the game at 6. The Knights would put two runners on base with one out in the top of the seventh before Reece Davis struck out the next two batters.

Davis (5-0) pitched the final 1.2 innings and picked up the win, striking out three and not allowing a run. Noah Richardson (7-1) took the loss, allowing one run in three innings.

Providence drew a championship-game record 11 walks, while the two teams combined for a finals-record 17 walks.

Providence’s Tré Watson named Mental Attitude recipient
Following the game, members of the IHSAA Executive Committee announced Tré Watson of Providence High School as the winner of this year’s L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award in Class 2A Baseball.

Tré has battled through a variety of injuries during his high school career, but through this adversity he has found a way to be a standout student-athlete. Watson has battled throughout his athletic career, playing through a torn hip labrum this baseball season, doing whatever it took to help the Pioneers. Watson has also been a member of the basketball team during his high school career.

Tré has demonstrated his leadership in many ways at Providence, serving as a member of the National Honor Society, Senior Class Council, and also a Student Ambassador and house delegate. He has also performed many acts of volunteerism, working in the Sellersburg Food Pantry, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and also at the St. John Paul II Nursery.

He is the son of Charles and Denna Watson of Jeffersonville and while undecided on his college decision, Tré plans to pursue a degree in Physical Therapy.

The 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. 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 a $1,000 scholarship to general scholarship fund at Providence High School in the name of Tré Watson.