Published: June 20, 2009 10:34 pm         

Vikings fall in state title game, but pride remains

INDIANAPOLIS — The sky was blue. And Victory Field was a sea of West Vigo green.

Unfortunately for the throng of West Vigo baseball fans that made the Indianapolis Indians’ home ballpark look like the Green Dome, the IHSAA Class 3A state championship game didn’t end with a Viking victory. Andrean won the 3A title with a 6-3 victory as the Fighting 59ers parried a few late comeback efforts by the Vikings to win the game.

The loss didn’t dampen the pride West Vigo had in getting to the game. Even as he mulled the loss in the postgame dugout, West Vigo catcher Jeremy Lucas was proud of how far he and his teammates had come in representing their community.

“We had a great season, we’re a great group of kids,” said Lucas, who was 2-for-3 and was named the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude winner for Class 3A. “West Terre Haute is a great community, they’ve supported us all along. It’s disappointing we couldn’t bring the title home, but we’re proud of what we’ve done.”

West Vigo was down 5-0 at the end of third inning, but rallied to cut its deficit to 5-3 in the fifth. The Vikings had runners on base in both the sixth and seventh innings, but the 59ers induced double plays to end both innings.

West Vigo coach Steve DeGroote tipped his cap to Andrean, but didn’t feel West Vigo had anything to be ashamed of.

“We proved we belonged here. [Andrean] beat us fair and square and they deserve what they got, but no one is going to tell me our kids couldn’t do what they did. They just weren’t able to get it done today.”

West Vigo fans overwhelmingly outnumbered the contingent from Andrean — a private school in Merrillville. The entire first base side was taken up by Viking fans, while the 59ers fans were widely dispersed on the other side. West Vigo athletic director Mike Miller said 1,000 tickets were pre-sold with, “the phone ringing off the hook” of Vikings fans wanting to gobble up more. The actual West Vigo fan total significantly exceeded 1,000.

It wasn’t just West Vigo fans that made the trip. Several recognizable fans one would associate with Terre Haute North blue or Terre Haute South red were decked out in green in a show of Vigo County support.

But this was western Vigo County and West Terre Haute’s moment. West Vigo principal Tom Balitewicz illustrated what this game meant to a community that has long supported baseball teams at all age levels.

“This is one of the greatest days in West Vigo history. This has just energized this community. The amount of people out here is just amazing. It seems to be a once-in-a-lifetime event and we need to enjoy it,” Balitewicz said. “These kids’ core values are absolutely amazing. If my kids grow up like them, I’ll be a proud father.”

West Vigo’s runner-up finish is its best in school history. Terre Haute North remains the only Vigo County school to win an IHSAA state baseball championship. The Patriots won the 1974 championship over Indianapolis Marshall (now a middle school) in the single-class format.

It was Andrean’s second state championship … the 59ers also won the 3A crown in 2005.