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GARY — If anyone knows how close to glory a trip to the IHSAA final four is, it’s Penn baseball head coach Greg Dikos.
The six-time state champion finished his 39th season leading the Kingsmen Saturday, June 13, at U.S. Steel Yard as his team fell short, 6-2, of advancing to the Class 4A state finals for the eighth time in program history.
Even though he wasn’t expecting this Penn group to make it to semi-state for the first time since 2023, let alone win its semifinal and advance to the championship game, that didn’t take away the sting Dikos felt watching Lake Central advance to Victory Field while his group wiped away tears as 13 seniors played their final high school game.
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“The final four is a hell of an accomplishment. It's certainly not what we wanted, but it's so damn close,” Dikos said. “Kids don't realize how close these things are. The goals that you set throughout the season, they’re dynamic — they’re constantly changing. We were working for a state championship, and this is what they were geared up for. You keep on reaching a little bit, higher, higher, and higher, that’s what life's all about.”
There may have been no play more emblematic of the 2026 Kingsmen’s constant ability to surprise than when senior Dalton Zultanski laid down a bunt with two strikes in the bottom of the fourth inning to load the bases. Fellow senior Brody Cashen hit a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat, shortening Lake Central’s lead to 3-2.
That may have ended up being the last time Penn scored this season, but Dikos said Zultanski’s bunt took “courage” and “guts.” Cashen, who drove in a team-high five runs across Saturday’s two games, said moments like that were examples of what the 2026 Kingsmen were about.
“The expectations this year weren’t high for us, so we just wanted to show everybody how good we really were,” Cashen said. “I love [my teammates], I would do anything for them, and I would do anything to have this season again.”
The Kingsmen hit rock bottom when they were swept in a two-game Northern Indiana Conference (NIC) series against New Prairie May 12-13, sliding to 19-6 and dropping out of contention for a conference crown. Penn responded by stringing together seven straight wins, including a second-straight sectional title, its first regional championship since 2023 and a dominant semi-state semifinal victory.
The season ended with a 26-7 record, the fourth campaign out of the last five with 26 wins or more. The way the Kingsmen rallied to even make it within one game of a state finals appearance made ultimately losing to Lake Central an easier pill to swallow for Cashen.
“That’s how baseball is,” Cashen said. “You’re going to have games where your guys just hit the ball and hit the ball and everything goes your way, then you’re going to have games where it’s going to be a battle. We gave it our all, that’s just part of the game.”
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Lake Central jumped on Penn senior Cayden Stockbridge early with three runs in the first inning. However, the future Purdue pitcher showed he had what it took to get out of jams even in that first frustrating frame by striking out the last two batters of the inning to strand a Lake Central runner on base.
The Indians put two runners on in the second and two more in the third, but again Stockbridge did not allow another run.
Sophomore Mason Biernacki put Penn on the board for the first time in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI double. He ended his day with three hits, two walks and two runs.
Stockbridge responded with a one-two-three inning in the fourth, which was followed by Cashen’s sacrifice fly in the bottom half. Lake Central finally scored another run in the top of the fifth inning, but once again Stockbridge escaped the frame with a strikeout to strand a runner on base.
When Stockbridge left the mound for the final time in his high school career in the top of the sixth inning, he finished with five strikeouts, seven hits, five earned runs and four walks.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of emotions, but I also want to fire my team up, get us ready to bat, get us more runs and hopefully take the momentum away from them,” Stockbridge said. “... This group of guys is amazing; I love every single one of them.”
More: Inside Cayden Stockbridge's rise to becoming Penn baseball's ace
The Indians put up two more runs on Penn’s bullpen and won 6-2. Ultimately, the Kingsmen’s demise came down to stranding 10 runners on base.
“When you get this far, you just can’t make those kinds of mistakes. We had our chances, and we got outplayed today,” Dikos said.
In the Kingsmen’s first game of the day, they plated eight runs in the top of the first inning against the Panthers before recording an out. At the end of the frame, Penn led Snider 9-0 and successfully set the tone for what was tied as the former’s second-largest margin of victory through 32 games this season.
Six Kingsmen reached base via walk and one got hit by a pitch in the first inning, but seniors Bennett Hartford and Cashen each got big hits to really put things in motion. First, it was Hartford’s two-RBI single, then Cashen crushed a three-RBI triple before junior Colton Breden hit an RBI single of his own.
Stockbridge, who was originally Penn’s starting pitcher, only threw two pitches to the Panthers’ first batter of the game before exiting to save his arm for the presumptive championship game later that night. That strategy worked, as the Kingsmen’s four pitchers who followed only allowed three hits and one run.
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Penn sophomore Panayoti Limberopoulos followed up his squad’s monster first inning with a towering solo home run over the left field wall in the top of the second to officially qualify the Kingsmen for an eventual five-inning, 10-run rule. Breden hit a sacrifice fly later in the inning to put Penn ahead 11-0 before the Panthers could plate any runs.
Senior Ben Dhaemers hit a RBI single in the top of the third after Snider finally scored via wild pitch the inning prior. Penn’s only scoreless frame was the fourth, to which it responded in kind with a four-run fifth.
Cashen drew a bases loaded walk before sophomore Tate Clark clubbed a three-RBI double in the left-center field gap. When the dust settled, the Kingsmen advanced to Saturday night’s semi-state championship game vs. Lake Central with a 16-1 victory.
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at [email protected] or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Penn baseball crushes Snider, falls to Lake Central at IHSAA 4A semi-state
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The six-time state champion finished his 39th season leading the Kingsmen Saturday, June 13, at U.S. Steel Yard as his team fell short, 6-2, of advancing to the Class 4A state finals for the eighth time in program history.
Even though he wasn’t expecting this Penn group to make it to semi-state for the first time since 2023, let alone win its semifinal and advance to the championship game, that didn’t take away the sting Dikos felt watching Lake Central advance to Victory Field while his group wiped away tears as 13 seniors played their final high school game.
More: No. 1 Andrean ends remarkable run by NorthWood baseball team
“The final four is a hell of an accomplishment. It's certainly not what we wanted, but it's so damn close,” Dikos said. “Kids don't realize how close these things are. The goals that you set throughout the season, they’re dynamic — they’re constantly changing. We were working for a state championship, and this is what they were geared up for. You keep on reaching a little bit, higher, higher, and higher, that’s what life's all about.”
There may have been no play more emblematic of the 2026 Kingsmen’s constant ability to surprise than when senior Dalton Zultanski laid down a bunt with two strikes in the bottom of the fourth inning to load the bases. Fellow senior Brody Cashen hit a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat, shortening Lake Central’s lead to 3-2.
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That may have ended up being the last time Penn scored this season, but Dikos said Zultanski’s bunt took “courage” and “guts.” Cashen, who drove in a team-high five runs across Saturday’s two games, said moments like that were examples of what the 2026 Kingsmen were about.
“The expectations this year weren’t high for us, so we just wanted to show everybody how good we really were,” Cashen said. “I love [my teammates], I would do anything for them, and I would do anything to have this season again.”
The Kingsmen hit rock bottom when they were swept in a two-game Northern Indiana Conference (NIC) series against New Prairie May 12-13, sliding to 19-6 and dropping out of contention for a conference crown. Penn responded by stringing together seven straight wins, including a second-straight sectional title, its first regional championship since 2023 and a dominant semi-state semifinal victory.
The season ended with a 26-7 record, the fourth campaign out of the last five with 26 wins or more. The way the Kingsmen rallied to even make it within one game of a state finals appearance made ultimately losing to Lake Central an easier pill to swallow for Cashen.
“That’s how baseball is,” Cashen said. “You’re going to have games where your guys just hit the ball and hit the ball and everything goes your way, then you’re going to have games where it’s going to be a battle. We gave it our all, that’s just part of the game.”
More: Trinity Academy, Plymouth win first-ever IHSAA boys golf regional titles
Lake Central jumped on Penn senior Cayden Stockbridge early with three runs in the first inning. However, the future Purdue pitcher showed he had what it took to get out of jams even in that first frustrating frame by striking out the last two batters of the inning to strand a Lake Central runner on base.
The Indians put two runners on in the second and two more in the third, but again Stockbridge did not allow another run.
Sophomore Mason Biernacki put Penn on the board for the first time in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI double. He ended his day with three hits, two walks and two runs.
Stockbridge responded with a one-two-three inning in the fourth, which was followed by Cashen’s sacrifice fly in the bottom half. Lake Central finally scored another run in the top of the fifth inning, but once again Stockbridge escaped the frame with a strikeout to strand a runner on base.
When Stockbridge left the mound for the final time in his high school career in the top of the sixth inning, he finished with five strikeouts, seven hits, five earned runs and four walks.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of emotions, but I also want to fire my team up, get us ready to bat, get us more runs and hopefully take the momentum away from them,” Stockbridge said. “... This group of guys is amazing; I love every single one of them.”
More: Inside Cayden Stockbridge's rise to becoming Penn baseball's ace
The Indians put up two more runs on Penn’s bullpen and won 6-2. Ultimately, the Kingsmen’s demise came down to stranding 10 runners on base.
“When you get this far, you just can’t make those kinds of mistakes. We had our chances, and we got outplayed today,” Dikos said.
Penn smokes Fort Wayne Snider in semifinal
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In the Kingsmen’s first game of the day, they plated eight runs in the top of the first inning against the Panthers before recording an out. At the end of the frame, Penn led Snider 9-0 and successfully set the tone for what was tied as the former’s second-largest margin of victory through 32 games this season.
Six Kingsmen reached base via walk and one got hit by a pitch in the first inning, but seniors Bennett Hartford and Cashen each got big hits to really put things in motion. First, it was Hartford’s two-RBI single, then Cashen crushed a three-RBI triple before junior Colton Breden hit an RBI single of his own.
Stockbridge, who was originally Penn’s starting pitcher, only threw two pitches to the Panthers’ first batter of the game before exiting to save his arm for the presumptive championship game later that night. That strategy worked, as the Kingsmen’s four pitchers who followed only allowed three hits and one run.
More: Family and football give Bryan Mattison a Hall of Fame life
Penn sophomore Panayoti Limberopoulos followed up his squad’s monster first inning with a towering solo home run over the left field wall in the top of the second to officially qualify the Kingsmen for an eventual five-inning, 10-run rule. Breden hit a sacrifice fly later in the inning to put Penn ahead 11-0 before the Panthers could plate any runs.
Senior Ben Dhaemers hit a RBI single in the top of the third after Snider finally scored via wild pitch the inning prior. Penn’s only scoreless frame was the fourth, to which it responded in kind with a four-run fifth.
Cashen drew a bases loaded walk before sophomore Tate Clark clubbed a three-RBI double in the left-center field gap. When the dust settled, the Kingsmen advanced to Saturday night’s semi-state championship game vs. Lake Central with a 16-1 victory.
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at [email protected] or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Penn baseball crushes Snider, falls to Lake Central at IHSAA 4A semi-state
Continue reading...
