Henry-Senachwine comes up short in sectional semifinal

PERU - During its unlikely postseason run, the Henry-Senachwine baseball team relied on strong pitching, solid defense and just enough offense.

The Mallards used the same formula Wednesday, but this time Henry didn’t get enough offense as the Mallards lost 3-1 to Lexington in a Class 1A St. Bede Sectional semifinal at Schweickert Stadium.

“We battled,” Henry coach Ted Rowe said. “I don’t think anybody expected us to be here going into the playoffs and we took them down to the wire. Carson (Rowe) pitched a great game. Through our three playoff games we only gave up four runs. Our defense was phenomenal. Our pitching was even better. We hit balls, just some balls we hit hard went to people. That’s baseball.”

After Henry (11-18) stranded a pair of runners in the first inning, the Mallards took an early lead with a run in the second.

Caleb Wiesbrock drew a leadoff walk, and after back-to-back outs, No. 9 hitter Ben Meachum hit an RBI single to right-center field to score Wiesbrock for a 1-0 lead.

“It felt great,” Ted Rowe said about the early lead. “Our last game, we won 1-0 (over Putnam County) and scored one un the second just like that, so it kind of felt like deja vu to start off. We got a guy on, got him over and got him in.

“We still competed (the rest of the way). These guys should be proud of themsevles.”

The Mallards did not have a hit the rest of the way and only managed two base runners.

Wiesbrock walked to start the fourth but the next three batters were retired.

In the sixth, Austin Keith reached on an error but was thrown out at second base trying to advance to second.

“Their pitcher did a good job,” Ted Rowe said. “He was in the zone all day. He didn’t give us a lot of free bases. He made us fight for every inch we got. The balls we were hitting hard, a lot of them were going right to people. There’s not much you can do about that.”

The Minutemen, meanwhile, managed to chip away against Carson Rowe.

Lexington tied it in the third when Jack Miller was hit by a pitch, moved to second on an errant pickoff attempt, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an RBI double by Blaine Friedmansky.

The Minutemen took the lead in a similar fashion in the fifth.

Miller walked, stole second, went to third on a sac bunt and scored on a sac fly by Friedmansky.

Lexington added an insurance run in the sixth on an RBI single by Jaxson Goodrich.

Henry shortstop Evan Culp made a diving stop of Goodrich’s grounder behind second base. Cooper Miller scored, but Culp managed to throw out Miles Lainhart at home.

Carson Rowe threw a complete game - his second of the postseason - allowing three runs on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks.

“He battled in the zone,” Ted Rowe said. “He fought through some adversity where he felt like he should have got some calls, but that’s part of the game. We’ve all been there where you think you’re going to get one and you don’t. You have to adjust to the zone and he did that.”

With a young roster that only had one senior who did not start, the Mallards hope to build off the season in which they improved throughout and ended up as regional champions as a No. 7 seed.

“We had a freshman behind the plate and we had four sophomores and four juniors starting,” Ted Rowe said. “We had to go through some learning being a young team. Our first three games we got run ruled. We turned it around toward the end of the year. We started winning games and were playing our best baseball when we needed to. To make it down to the final 32 teams in the state, they should be very proud of themselves.

“I think there’s a lot to look forward to next year. Every single starter is going to be back. We had one senior (Ryan Carlson). He wasn’t a starter, but he was a vocal leader so we’ll miss him, but there’s a lot we can build off from this year and hopefully make another run next year.”

Lexington (17-11) will play Heyworth (24-14) in the title game at 10 a.m. Saturday.

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Lexington's Jack Miller slides into second base after stealing the bag as the ball gets by Henry-Senachwine's Landon Harbinson during the Class 1A Sectional semifinal game on Wednesday, May 28, 2025 at Schwieckert Stadium in Peru. (Scott Anderson)