Keaton Brooks' no-hitter leads Central Catholic to Class 1A sectional baseball title

LAFAYETTE — Central Catholic left-handed pitcher Keaton Brooks trusted his mechanics and played the role he was asked for the defending IHSAA Class 1A state champions.

Brooks pocketed the strike zone with curve balls and fastballs while the Knights played six innings of clean defense to dismiss Riverton Parke on Monday night and capture another sectional title.

The senior Brooks threw a no-hitter despite allowing four walks, but none of those seemed to matter with Brooks generating plenty of soft contact.

"It was just about trusting my defense and I was never really bothered by much," Brooks said.

Central Catholic (23-6) continues its tradition where winning the sectional title isn't the goal, it's the expectation. The Knights had plenty of help from the Panthers, who committed two errors and hit four batters while Hudson Gutwein led his offense with two hits, including a triple in the second.

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"We don't try to do anything special," Central Catholic coach Tim Bordenet said. "We just play basic baseball and execute better than the other team in the other dugout."

Senior outfielder Brinn Robbins hit the game-inning single with one out in the sixth for the Knights, who have won nine straight games since falling to Twin Lakes on May 8 in the Hoosier Conference Championship game.

An impressive resume of victories for Central Catholic includes knocking off 2023 Class 4A sectional champion Harrison.

"We play good teams, we face good pitching and that's going to show towards the end of the season and we've been rolling," Bordenet said.

Winning sectional championships for Central Catholic is the common occurrence the Lafayette area has experienced since Bordenet has been at the helm.

Now the real competition begins for Central Catholic as it makes its march toward its 10th state title.

Ethan Hanson is the sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at ehanson@gannett.com , on Twitter at EthanAHanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson .

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Keaton Brooks' no-hitter leads Central Catholic to Class 1A sectional baseball title