McIntire pitches North Miami to first regional title

Every batter in starting lineup has hit in win over Monroe Central

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Baseball

North Miami 9, Monroe Central 1 (Saturday): Braylon McIntire pitched a four-hitter, and Jension Carr, Keaton Floor and Quinn Hostetler had two RBIs each as the North Miami baseball team beat Monroe Central at Oak Hill Saturday to win the program’s first regional title in school history.

North Miami had a balanced 12-hit attack against three Bear pitchers: Every member of the starting lineup had at least one hit, and five different players had at least one RBI.

Carr and Logan Smith had back-to-back RBI doubles in the top of the first inning as the Warriors led wire to wire.

Keaton Floor added a two-out, two-run double in the second to push the lead to 4-0.

Jordan Simon drove in a run when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fourth. Another run scored when Lake Musall scored when Evan Chumbley reached on an error.

Isaac Middleton homered for Monroe Central to lead off the bottom of the fourth to trim the lead to 6-1.

North Miami scored three more runs in the fifth, all after nobody on and two outs. Carr had another RBI double, and Hostetler followed an intentional walk to Smith with a two-run single.

Monroe Central got the leadoff man on base in the first, second and seventh innings but did not score in any of them. McIntire also pitched around two errors in the third, getting Caleb Luedtke to pop out to Hostetler at short to end the inning.

McIntire retired 10 of the final 11 batters. After Middleton’s homer, Monroe Central never got a baserunner past first base.

McIntire walked none, hit a batter and struck out two.

Meanwhile, Monroe Central pitchers walked five and hit two batters.

North Miami, who was two outs away from losing to Northfield in the sectional quarterfinals May 28, won their fourth straight game and improved to 19-12. The four-game winning streak equals their longest of the season.

They will play Fort Wayne Blackhawk (9-14) in a Class 1A semistate semifinal at Loeb Stadium in Lafayette at 11 a.m. Saturday. A semifinal between Rossville and Kouts will follow, and the winners return at 7:30 p.m. for the semistate final.

North Miami lost to Washington Township in 2019 and to Fremont in 2024 in their two previous regional appearances.

North Miami 9, Monroe Central 1

North Miami 202 230 0 – 9 12 2

Monroe Central 000 100 0 – 1 4 2

WP – Braylon McIntire (7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 2 K)

LP – Luedike (3 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 2 K)

2B – Jension Carr 2 (NM), Logan Smith 2 (NM), Keaton Floor (NM), Lake Musall (NM)

HR – Middleton (MC)