Cathedral baseball rides strong pitching, timely hitting to win 30th City tournament title

Indianapolis Star

15-05-2025

INDIANAPOLIS -- Intentionally walking a batter is the ultimate sign of respect, but it also signals to the next batter the opposition believes it has a good chance of getting him out.
In the third inning of Thursday's City tournament championship game, Covenant Christian elected to intentionally walk Cathedral's No. 3 hitter senior Eli Bennett, loading the bases to face sophomore Connor Christiansen. The reasoning behind the decision was sound. Bennett, an IU commit, leads Cathedral with a .400 batting average and 23 RBIs. Christiansen is second on the team with a .393 batting average and 15 RBIs, proving he's also a capable hitter but not quite the threat Bennett is.
With the defense shifted toward the middle of the diamond, Christiansen beat the shift, shooting a ball over the second baseman's head for a two-out, two-RBI single. The hit proved to be the winner as the Fighting Irish earned a 2-0 victory over Covenant Christian. The win gives Cathedral (14-6) its 30th City championship.
"I was hunting fastball," Christiansen said. "I just wanted to take the fastball away, put it on a line and I got the pitch I wanted to hit. ...That was really my only thought. Eli Bennett's a great player. A lot of teams don't want to pitch to him, so it's kind of expected. ... I just wanted to hit a line drive and do what I needed to do."
The Warriors' calculated risk did not pay off, and the two runs were all the support Cathedral's pitching staff needed. Senior starter Ethan Dorsey pitched five scoreless innings, striking out five and scattering three hits. Landon Hughes entered in the six and was equally dominant, allowing just one hit over two innings, striking out two. Dorsey worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second, and froze Bryce Eagen with a fastball in the fifth, stranding two runners in scoring position.
"We pitched well, really proud of the way we pitched," Cathedral coach Ed Freije said. "We pitched in some big moments and got out of some big innings.
"All season long we've really been impressed with our pitching and our depth on the mound. We're comfortable with a lot of guys that we put out there. Landon's thrown a lot of good innings, he's thrown a lot of strikes for us. He just competes really well. Ethan gave us a good start. We know we can count on him. He's a guy that we know we're going to get some good innings out of."
Cathedral's strong pitching spoiled a strong start from Covenant starter Eli Kegeris. The junior used his quality breaking pitches to keep the Irish off balance. He used his curveball to strike out consecutive batters in the fourth. He went back to the curveball, putting it in the dirt for his third consecutive strikeout to start the fifth. Kegeris pitched six innings, allowed four hits and two earned runs, striking out five.
The win is Cathedral's seventh in a row. The Irish are finding their groove after dropping six of eight games early in the season. The Irish face a huge test with a road game against reigning Class 4A state champion Lake Central on Friday, but the Irish are confident they can compete with anyone when they play soundly.
"We try to focus on ourselves, going out and competing the best we can," Freije said. "I think we've done some good things all season. We've got a ways to go, but I think we're capable of playing with anybody and getting the job done."