Sam KingLafayette Journal & Courier
INDIANAPOLIS — Friday night was a one-year wait for Seth Wagler.
A tremendous guilt hung over Wagler since last year's Class A state championship baseball game, one in which the then sophom*ore was called for a balk with a runner on third base, allowing Central Catholic to score the game's only run.
Standing on the Victory Field mound again in a title game rematch, Wagler was again masterful in the way he manipulates a lineup.
"Seth has a great arsenal," Barr-Reeve senior shortstop Ethan Stoll said. "His fastball works really good. Curveball always has hitters on their back foot. It makes it a lot easier to play defense when you have a pitcher like him that you can trust that he is always going to give you strikes and give you opportunities to make plays."
By the time Wagler took the mound, he had a one-run lead and an inning later, he was in cruise control up three runs in an eventual 6-1 Vikings victory.
More: IHSAA 1A State Baseball Championship: Central Catholic falls to Barr-Reeve
"It feels good to be back and it feels a lot better to be on top this time," Wagler said. "It is very good to get revenge on them this year, especially with how last year ended."
Wagler doesn't overpower hitters.
He finished his junior season with just 51 strikeouts in 62 innings. But he does keep hitters off balance, pitch to contact and let his defense work.
And why wouldn't he?
"I am pretty sure our defense is the best defense in 1A baseball in the state by far," Wagler said. "Every game, I can trust the guys to go out and make plays for me. That is what I rely on."
And Stoll showed why with a diving stab at shortstop to save a run and later a diving catch running towards the third base foul line that kept two runners from scoring in what was then a 3-1 game.
"That is a game-changing play," Barr-Reeve coach Trevor McConnell said. "If that drops, they're going to score two and we're on our heels and Seth is rattled maybe."
Knowing his defense had his back, Wagler just needed the offensive support the Vikings couldn't find a year earlier. Jacob Pauw laced a RBI double in the top of the first, his first of two run-scoring hits.
"I told them on the way up here and the entire week, I said can we just get a few runs in the first inning and I'll be calm," Wagler said. "They did it for me and just kept adding on to it all game."
Central Catholic, the team that has owned Class A baseball for the last two decades by waiting for opponents to make mistakes and then capitalizing, was a victim of its own strategy, making five errors.
Trying to play from behind with a pitcher as savvy as Wagler, coupled with a year's worth of determination, was a losing battle.
"He was throwing all of his pitches for strikes early in the count," Central Catholic coach Tim Bordenet said. "That is tough for our hitters to get him squared up and then when we did, their shortstop made some really nice plays."
Nobody will fret for Central Catholic, which has played in a state championship game in 12 of the past 20 IHSAA baseball tournaments and won nine times.
But that is exactly why revenge was so sweet for Wagler and the Vikings.
Every time the Knights had a chance to sway momentum, Barr-Reeve was poised, headed by Wagler on the mound.
"That's the game. Their shortstop made multiple plays and tip your cap to them," CC senior Brinn Robbins said. "Good pitching by (Wagler). It was a great ball game on their part."
Bordenet has won more state championships than any coach in Indiana high school baseball history.
And now, one year after a balk weighed heavily on a 16-year-old pitcher who otherwise pitched flawlessly, the same kid was equally as impressive but this time without the one glaring mistake.
"The whole experience last year allowed us to come up here and treat this like a high school baseball game," McConnell said. "Last year, it was a big spectacle for all of us. We were kind of wide eyed and looking all around.
"I thought we were steady and proved we belonged in the moment this year."
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.
