What We Learned through Week 4: Roncalli gets big win, LN's emerging, tight HCC and more

Four weeks into the Indiana High School baseball season and top players, teams and conference standings are starting to take shape.

Roncalli hands Center Grove its first loss

No team in the state has been hotter than Center Grove, but Roncalli (9-3) became the first squad to cool off the Trojans, earning a 6-5 win Friday.

The Royals jumped on the Trojans (13-1) quickly, scoring twice in the first inning, twice in the second and once each in the third and fourth. Center Grove responded with three runs in the fifth and two in the sixth, but Roncalli closed the door with a scoreless seventh to secure the win.

The win is Roncalli's fifth in a row. Sam Roeder and Rudy Schoettle led Roncalli with two hits and one RBI each. Dylan Henry and Maddux Haworth also added RBIs. Luke Greene got the win on the mound. He allowed five runs over six innings, striking out four. Daylan Powers earned the save, striking out two for a clean seventh inning.

The HCC is tighter than ever

As we enter the heart of conference season, one of the more compelling races is for the Hoosier Crossroads Conference title. Reigning champion Noblesville sits atop the standings, a perfect 4-0, but Zionsville (10-5, 5-1) and Westfield (9-4, 4-2) remain within striking distance. Fishers (10-6, 3-3) has found its stride winning five in a row. And Hamilton Southeastern (7-6, 3-3) and Avon are more than capable of stringing wins together and making a move up the standings.

Fishers coach Matthew Cherry said his team's turnaround was sparked by players accepting their roles. Cherry said he started to notice positive changes after losing two to Noblesville. After dropping the series to the Millers, the Tiger haven't lost since.

"We've kind of defined some roles and some of the guys that are now on the bench understand their role, so they're bought into their role," Cherry said. "We just challenged our guys to be stars of their role that they're in that night, so I definitely see us turning the corner."

The high-end talent within the conference is impressive with nearly every team boasting a Power 5 player: Jack Brown (Fishers), Ethan Lund (HSE), Nash Wagner (Zionsville). The teams also seemingly have a dominant 1-2 punch to put on the bump for a big series.

Westfield started the season on fire, winning eight of its first nine games. The Shamrocks started conference play sweeping Brownsburg before dropping three in a row, including two in a row to conference foe Fishers. The 'Rocks have another non-conference test Monday against Center Grove before a two-game series with Noblesville. Coach Ryan Bunnell said the HCC is always a grind, and he'll learn a lot about his team this week.

"We’ve got to take away what we have to do to be better but then we’ve got to forget about this and move on because the next one is going to be just as hard," Bunnell said after Friday's loss to Fishers. "There's no easy night in the HCC and our non-conference schedule is tough. ... Nobody's gonna feel sorry for us. And we just gotta understand what we have to do to be successful and to be in position to win ball games."

LN emerging in MIC, North Central looming after slow start

It's looking to be a four-team race in the MIC with Pike (6-6, 4-1) in the lead, followed by Lawrence North (9-3, 3-1), Ben Davis (5-5, 3-1) and North Central (3-5, 3-1).

Reigning champ North Central's tough early-season schedule has the Panthers sporting a minus-18 run differential through eight games. The Panthers have two games against Pike this week with tough non-conference games against Greenfield-Central, Guerin Catholic and Brebeuf Jesuit looming. The numbers don't look great, but don't count out North Central just yet.

After a losing season last year, Lawrence North is having a strong bounce back season. The Wildcats won nine of their first 10 games before splitting with North Central and dropping a one-run game to Pendleton Heights. The senior-quartet of Logan Crock, Brock Taulman, Austin Linton and Micah Miller lead LN's offense. Junior Brendan Boynton has been LN's top pitcher, recording a 3-1 record with a 1.22 ERA and 24 strikeouts over 23 innings.

Center Grove reloaded via youth movement

Center Grove lost its first game of the season Friday to Roncalli, but the Trojans' 12-0 start showed how well the team's new players have performed to start the season.

Gone are familiar faces Drew Culbertson, Evan Zapp and Jacob Murphy, but in their places, a new crop of talented Trojans has emerged. Junior Carson Bush leads Center Grove in hits with 23 and a .575 batting average after not playing an inning of varsity baseball last season. Sophomores Tristan Yerman and Gannon Grant are both batting above .300. First-time starter junior Cayden Jones is the team's top power hitter, and sophomore Kobe Cherry leads in innings pitched (20⅔) and strikeouts (27). Seniors Noah Coy, A.J. Beggs and Connor VanderLuitgaren are the top returners from last year's team.

"The culture that we've been in the last three years, it's kind of what Center Grove is," Coy said. "You don't rebuild you just reload. That's what we said at the start of the year.

"(The underclassmen) have all done a good job accepting their roles and they're really talented. The sophomores, they're going to be big-time players."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA Baseball: Takeaways through Week 4 of the season