55 years later, Frankfort baseball wins regional championship

LAFAYETTE − For 55 long years, Frankfort’s baseball team hasn’t experienced regional championship success.

On Saturday, that changed.

With an 11-7 Class 3A regional championship victory over Mishawaka Marian at Leming Field, the Hot Dogs added the program's second regional title and first since 1968.

None of it had to do with the prerequisite skills that come with baseball, per the Hot Dogs' head coach.

“For this group of guys, it’s nothing to do with throwing, catching, running and hitting but with everything to do what’s between their ears and what’s in their chest," Andy Dudley said. "The sectional championship game (against Western on Monday) and tonight are perfect examples. (Saturday), you couldn’t have a better example. Jose’s getting lit up early. … There’s no change in our demeanor. Guys are smiling, talking through their bats, there’s this hope every time we did something."

It was a back-and-forth affair in the early stages of the championship game as both teams traded leads throughout the first few innings.

In those opening innings, senior pitcher Jose Lopez took the brunt of the opposition’s attack as Mishawaka Marian tallied seven runs in innings one through three.

Lopez’s resolve however piggybacks on the very things Dudley touched on following Frankfort's championship crowning and is the same approach that he has in each game on the mound.

“Anytime I struggle, I just forget about it," Lopez said. "My team trusts me so much and they knew I had it from the start even though I gave up some runs. I told them if we lose this, it’s on me but that wasn’t it."

After the Knights scored their seventh run in the top of the third, Lopez and the Hot Dogs' defense shut out the opposition in the next four innings.

The road to Saturday's regional was a low-scoring one.

Frankfort knocked off Northwestern 3-1 in the sectional semifinal before upsetting Western and the Panthers' Mitchell Dean, a Louisville recruit, 2-1 in the sectional championship.

That victory over one of the area’s top arms provided Frankfort (19-12) with confidence in the batter’s box on Saturday, said outfielder Quentcy Perry.

“I think we just went up with the right approach after seeing we could beat a D1 commit from Western,” Perry said. “I think we all took deep breaths, stayed relaxed at the plate and really just tried to put the ball in play and make them make plays.”

The Hot Dogs ended the game with 14 hits total but in the fifth inning, a bulk of them were tallied as Frankfort rung in six scores led by line drives from Perry and Matt Berry for RBIs.

Perry led the game with three RBIs followed by two apiece from Berry and Victor Cruz.

Cruz is a part of a senior class that runs eight deep and with that group comes years of experience after many of them started playing together in Little League.

All of those years together now culminating in program history makes this championship even sweeter.

“Honestly, it means a lot, we’ve all been playing together since I was a little kid when I first started," Cruz said. "Coming this far means the world to us but it’s honestly just a mindset and taking every game the same. Not getting ahead of ourselves and thinking any game is bigger than others but playing with the same intensity and energy as we do in the game before."

As Frankfort continues to let the realization of now being a part of Hot Dogs baseball lore settle in, the players also move forward with the utmost belief in their game.

“The confidence is through the roof right now," Perry said. :Right now, we’re feeling unbeatable and really, if we’re just putting the bat on the ball, I think no one can beat us right now."

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: 55 years later, Frankfort baseball wins regional championship