The Rossville Hornets defeated the Clinton Prairie Gophers 5-2 in the Sectional 54 Championship game on Monday night.
“We build our schedule to prepare for this,” Rossville coach Brad Scott said. “We’ve been tested throughout the entire year. There’s no rollover with this team and this senior class.”
Rossville trailed early, giving up two runs in the first inning, but shut out the No. 2-ranked Gophers the rest of the way.
Pitching was the key for Rossville, as Indiana All-Star Eli Barnes held Clinton Prairie scoreless from the second through the sixth inning.
“I think going into the first inning, I was a little bit amped up, a little nervous,” Barnes said. “But I just trusted my defense, trusted my stuff, and went out there and pitched like I have all year long, not overthinking it.”
Barnes struck out nine in six innings of work, including retiring the final eight batters he faced. 
“He’s (Barnes) been lights out for us since his freshman year, really,” Scott said. “We knew coming in, it’s such a big game, that he was going to be a little amped up, and it would take him a little bit of time to find his groove. But once he settled in, he was what we expected him to be. He’s such an anchor at the top of our pitching staff.”
After stranding runners in the first and second innings, the Hornets broke through in the third as Ashton Abbott delivered a two-out single that scored two and gave Rossville a 3-2 lead.
Later in the fifth, Abbott was one of two Hornets to convert on a sacrifice and add some insurance runs as Rossville pushed the lead to 5-2.
In the bottom of the seventh, Zac Wainscott came in to close the game out.
After two quick outs, the Gophers got a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases and bring a potential winning run to the plate.
The next Gopher popped it up, and Hornet third basemen Brogan Lanum made the squeeze for the final out, giving Rossville the Sectional Championship.
“These boys are so bought in,” Scott said. “These guys have been with me for four years: Zac Wainscott, Eli Barnes, Levi Darnell, and Ashton Abbott. Those guys are four-year starters for me. So this one means the world, it’s special.”
Abbott led the way with three RBIs, while Lanum and Darnell contributed one each. In the loss, Wyatt Harshbarger had three hits, Gaige Kuzmicz finished with two hits and an RBI and senior All-Star Kye Jacobs had two hits, scored a run and fired three scoreless innings in relief.
The Hornets advance to the Regional Championship game, where they’ll take on Riverton Parke at Loeb Stadium in Lafayette on Saturday at 11 a.m.
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