INDIANAPOLIS — Lake Central sophomore left-hander Owen Kopercinski reached to his right to snag a scorching liner.
Kopercinski juggled a comebacker, remained composed and fired to first base to record another out.
From any perspective, it was Kopercinski’s night in the Class 4A state championship game at Victory Field on Saturday.
“That’s a sophomore out there,” Lake Central coach Mike Swartzentruber said. “He’s a bulldog.”
Indeed, Kopercinski spun a three-hitter to record his first varsity shutout in his first seven-inning varsity outing as the Indians topped No. 10 Bloomington South 4-0 to win the state title.
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What a stage on which to deliver such a breakthrough performance.
“It’s a different experience,” Kopercinski said. “It’s really great. I was honored, and I think confidence was the biggest key. Honestly, if I don’t have it, I don’t think it would have gone too well.”
Kopercinski entered the game with a 6-0 record, a 2.16 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 55 innings. He already had recorded three victories in the postseason, which culminated with this gem.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Lake Central senior right fielder Andrew Brower said. “He’s a quiet guy, but he has quiet confidence. He’s always going to go up there and give you his best. He’s not worried about it at all. He knows he’s going to do good.
“At the beginning of the season, it was his first year starting on varsity, and his confidence was a little shaky. It caused him to be a little bit wild in the zone. Once he got the season going, he gained confidence and found the zone more and more, and now he’s pitching full games in the state championship.”
Lake Central (28-8), which added to the state title won by the school’s softball team a week earlier, secured its second state championship in three seasons and third overall.
But by defeating Bloomington South (25-7) this time around, the Indians completed a remarkable resurgence, winning 14 straight games and 20 of 22 after starting the season with an 8-6 record.
“It’s an unreal feeling,” Kopercinski said. “It feels like it’s fake. It feels like it never even happened. But it’s a great feeling.
“It’s all team chemistry. We all get along, and it’s like a big family. It’s all a big culture, and we really take pride in that family.”
Swartzentruber won his fourth state title overall.
“I don’t have words for the 22 guys on our roster,” Swartzentruber said. “To come from where we came early in the year where, it’s been well-documented, it was not good baseball early, I told them going into today I thought we were the best team in the state right now. Now we just have to go do it.”
Kopercinski, who finished with six strikeouts and two walks, allowed a leadoff double and a two-out walk in the first but avoided any damage. He retired 12 straight batters from the first to the fifth innings.
“Everything was really working besides the first inning,” Kopercinski said. “The first inning was a little rough, but I battled through. After the first inning, I feel like I found everything again.”
Kopercinski also emerged unscathed with runners on the corners with two outs in the fifth.
After a two-out walk in the sixth, Swartzentruber made a mound visit and stuck with Kopercinski, who responded with an inning-ending strikeout and a fist pump.
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Kopercinski proceeded to go the distance, working a perfect seventh and ending with 113 pitches.
“I talked to him before the seventh inning, and he said he wanted the ball in the seventh inning, and it showed,” Swartzentruber said. “He went out there and just pounded the strike zone, and the rest is history.”
The Indians scored two runs in the first, getting an RBI single from junior shortstop Parker Robinson, an Oklahoma recruit who hit another RBI single in the sixth after junior designated hitter Isaac Ochoa tripled. Brower also drove in two runs, one each in the first and fifth innings.
“I’m the happiest person in the world for myself and my teammates,” Brower said. “I’m not playing in college, so this is my last ever official baseball game. I couldn’t have asked for a better game to end it on.”
The Indians provided more than enough run support for Kopercinski.
“I really don’t think he’s a finished product,” Swartzentruber said. “I’ve been fighting him all year to throw his change-up, and he’s just not confident enough with it. So if he gets a change-up, holy cow.
“But he doesn’t really show much emotion. He’s quiet. He doesn’t really say much when you talk to him. It’s, ‘Yes, coach. Yes, coach.’ But he’s competitive.”
Kopercinski agreed he can elevate his game even higher.
“Just being a sophomore, I have a lot of room to grow and be even better,” he said.