Sectional Pairing Set for 56th Annual IHSAA Baseball State Tournament

Sectional games begin May 24.

Shutterstock photo.

INDIANAPOLIS – There are 389 teams but only four will be crowned state champions.

Sectional pairings for the 56th IHSAA Baseball State Tournament were announced on Sunday evening.

Teams by class:

• 4A: 97
• 3A: 98
• 2A: 96
• 1A: 98

Sectional games begin Wednesday, May 24, and continue through Memorial Day (Monday, May 29), with regionals on Saturday, June 3.

The regional is now a single-game with two championship games being played back-to-back in a doubleheader format at the same site. The semi-state becomes a two-round affair with the winner advancing to the state championship game.

The four state championship games will be played at Victory Field in Indianapolis, home of the Triple-A franchise Indianapolis Indians, for the 25th year overall. This year’s games will be played in a doubleheader format on Friday, June 16 and Saturday, June 17.

About the Draw

To conduct the random drawing for the baseball state tournament, the IHSAA places ping-pong balls representing each school in a given sectional into a lottery-style air mix machine. A motorized fan in the bottom of the machine blows the balls around the inside of the transparent container and air then forces each ball up through a tube in random order. For example, the first ball retrieved from the machine will be the visiting team in game one with the second ball representing the home Page 2 of 10 team in game one. The third ball to come out is the visitor in game two and the fourth ball the home team in game two. That same method is followed through all 64 sectionals and 8 semi-states.

Sectionals featuring local teams are listed below. 

Class 4A Sectional 14 at East Central

G1: Columbus East vs. East Central
G2: Whiteland Community vs. Shelbyville
G3: G1 Winner vs. G2 Winner
G4: Columbus North vs. Franklin Community
Championship: G3 Winner vs. G4 Winner

Class 3A Sectional 29 at Franklin County

G1: Greensburg vs. Connersville
G2: South Dearborn vs. Rushville
G3: Franklin County vs. Batesville
G4: Lawrenceburg vs. G1 Winner
G5: G2 Winner vs. G3 Winner
Championship: G4 Winner vs. G5 Winner

Class 2A Sectional 46 at Austin

G1: Brown County vs. Brownstown Central
G2: Milan vs. South Ripley
G3: Switzerland County vs. Austin
G4: Hauser vs. Southwestern (Hanover)
G5: G1 Winner vs. G2 Winner
G6: G3 Winner vs. G4 Winner
Championship: G5 Winner vs. G6 Winner

Class 1A Sectional 60 at Jac-Cen-Del

G1: North Decatur vs. Oldenburg Academy
G2: Jac-Cen-Del vs. Southwestern (Shelbyville)
G3: G1 Winner vs. G2 Winner
G4: South Decatur vs. Waldron
Championship: G3 Winner vs. G4 Winner

Class 1A Sectional 62 at Shawe Memorial

G1: Crothersville vs. Henryville
G2: Shawe Memorial vs. Rising Sun
G3: G1 Winner vs. G2 Winner
G4: New Washington vs. Trinity Lutheran
Championship: G3 Winner vs. G4 Winner