The Zionsville Little League A’s, sponsored by Subway, beat out 74 other central Indiana Majors baseball teams to win the 2012 Little League District 8 Keraga Cup Championship. The Athletics beat district 8 rivals from Brownsburg, Plainfield, Eagle Creek and Ben Davis to advance to the round of four at Zionsville’s Lions Park on Saturday morning. In the semi-final game Drew Baker, John Gobeyn and Wesley Rischar held the Zionsville Yankees, sponsored by Duke Realty, in check and AJ Baker drove in Zach Mullens to score the winning run in the top of the 6th to send the A’s to the finals versus Tri-West Black.
Hours later, Zionsville came from behind versus Tri-West in the title game, securing the victory in dramatic fashion with a Sam Gobeyn walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 8th inning. Starting pitcher Jake Muller and relievers Sam Gobeyn, Trent Arnold and AJ Baker combined for nine strikeouts. Timely hitting by Trey Arnold and Michael Mullens capped rallies in the 6th and 7th to stave off elimination, and catcher Jack Farley battled the oppressive heat and aggressive Tri-West runners all afternoon. The game ended in dramatic fashion when Sam Gobeyn made Tri-West pay for the intentional walk to his twin brother John Gobeyn to load the bases, by sending the second pitch he saw over the left field fence – A shot measuring 230 feet.
“It was a total team effort” said Coach Muller. “A real team victory. We beat two great teams today, and we needed every one of these boys to do it.”
The Keraga Cup was formerly known as the President’s Cup, but was renamed in honor of Charles “Chuck” Keraga, longtime President of Zionsville Little League, upon his untimely death.
Zionsville Little League Majors: A’s
[crosslist]
- Trent Arnold
- Trey Arnold
- AJ Baker
- Drew Baker
- Jack Farley
- John Gobeyn
- Sam Gobeyn
- Mike Mullens
- Zach Mullens
- Jake Muller
- Wesley Rischar
- Coach Matt Muller
- Coach Brett Gobeyn
- Coach Keith Mullens
[/crosslist]