Evansville Mater Dei state champions in baseball for first time in 27 years

INDIANAPOLIS — There may not be a way to sum up this moment properly.Mater Dei coach Adam Wildeman was searching for the right words, but failing. His focus was being pulled in multiple directions as he navigated a full concourse of well wishes and hugs.

Same for Max Miller, a senior who walked off this field with dejection last year but is now placing a jersey inside the Victory Field trophy case. You can pinpoint to a dozen others who may spend the entire offseason trying to describe what occurred on Saturday.Because with their backs against the wall, the Wildcats found the answer.

Again.Instate recap: Mater Dei outlasts Bluffton in thriller to win 2A baseball titleNo. 1 Mater Dei defeated Bluffton 6-3 in eight innings to win the IHSAA Class 2A state championship on Saturday.

The Wildcats were down to their final out before completing a story which took multiple trips to Indianapolis to finish.For the first time in 27 years, this program earned the right to be state champions."It wasn’t just today," Wildeman said.

"It wasn’t just last week. It's been all year long. These guys just fight and claw and find different ways to win baseball games.

Tough to put into words that does justice, but it truly is an honor to be the head coach."This was, in some ways, three decades in the making. Mater Dei played in the state championship four times since winning the 1999 title.

All four visits ended in defeat. It was also an evolution of growth for a team who was eight outs from this same opportunity last season but failed.What went down over the final innings at Victory Field proved Mater Dei (30-3) was finally ready.

Jackson Schaefer tied the game on a swinging bunt with two outs in the seventh. One inning later, again with two outs, four straight batters reached base for the Wildcats. The final two were the loudest with Miller driving home the go-ahead run and Dylan Murphy supplying a two-RBI rocket up the middle for good measure.

One week ago, Mater Dei delivered a similar s