LAGRANGE — After making history by winning the program’s first regional championship last Saturday, Lakeland’s baseball team will have its biggest challenge of this postseason when it takes on Class 2A second-ranked Eastbrook in the second semifinal of the 2A North Semi-State at Oak Hill this afternoon.

The Lakers (21-8) and the Panthers (26-4) will square off at around 2 p.m. after Bluffton (17-10) takes on perennial state power Lafayette Central Catholic (25-6) in the first semifinal. The semifinal winners will return for the championship game today at 8 p.m.

The is will be the second straight postseason game for Lakeland on the modern day artificial turf surface. The Lakers have practiced on a turf ball field in Shipshewana over the past couple of weeks to used to that surface. Their only game experience on turf this season before the postseason has been at Fairfield.

Eastbrook is very good at every aspect of the game. It is very good defensively and has stolen around 130 bases. It only has one senior in catcher Ryder Gipson.

Junior left-handers Austin Mikel and Kavion Martin are the Panthers’ top starters. Sophomore Blake Jacobs is their closer and also plays third base.

Mikel and fellow juniors Kyler Hackman, Malakai Luthy and Jacob McDermit have a lot of experience at the varsity level. Hackman plays shortstop with Luthy in left field and McDermit in right.

Kris Holtzleiter is in his fifth season as the varsity coach at his alma mater. Indiana Baseball Hall of Famer and longtime high-ranking official with the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Brian Abbott is Eastbrook’s pitching coach. Abbott was Holtzleiter’s varsity coach at Eastbrook.

Lafayette Central Catholic has one of the state’s all-time great baseball coaches in Tim Bordenet. He has won nine state championships in 12 state finals appearances. The Knights have won 18 regional titles in the past 24 years.

Central Catholic won its third 2A regional title in walk-off fashion, 3-2 over Lapel at Loeb Stadium in Lafayette on Monday. Lapel scored two runs to tie in the top of the seventh, then the Knights won in the bottom half. Isaiah Hopkins tripled with one out, then Gus Sandberg drove him in with a sacrifice fly.

Cayden Keller was the winning pitcher for LCC, allowing five hits and striking out six.

The Knights will try to keep a potent Bluffton team off-balanced. After hitting just one home run in 2025, the Tigers have hit 25 home runs this spring as they won the school’s first regional championship in baseball.

Senior outfielder-first baseman Griffin Morgan is hitting .349 (29-83) with nine homers, 28 RBIs, 19 runs scored and six doubles. Junior infielder Ashton Beste is hitting .480 (36-75) with eight home runs, 28 RBIs, 24 runs and nine doubles. Senior Colton Arnold (.337 average, 32 hits, 21 RBIs, 14 runs, eight doubles) and junior Abram Gehrett (.342 average, 25 hits, 21 RBIs, 21 runs) each has three homers.

On the mound, Arnold is 3-1 with a 2.23 ERA. He allowed 33 hits in 44 innings, struck out 50 and walked 24. Morgan is 6-5 with a 4.57 ERA. In 53 and two-thirds innings, he has give up 39 hits, struck out 72 and walked 46.

Lakeland is known as The Brotherhood and has acted in kind this spring to achieve and overcome for each other. It started on the mound when senior Dylan Bateman has taken on the No. 1 starter role as classmate Garrett Pieri spent much of the season building himself back up from a pitching standpoint.

Bateman, a Glen Oaks (Mich.) baseball signee, and grown from a role player to one of Lakeland’s top players. He is 9-1 pitching with a 2.29 ERA. In 58 innings, he allowed 54 hits, struck out 41 and walked 22.

Offensively, Bateman is hitting .434 (36-83) with a home run, 18 RBIs, 20 runs scored and seven doubles.

Senior catcher Levi Cook has done everything to lead a Laker lineup that has been strong from top to bottom the past couple of seasons. He is hitting .461 (41-89) with four homers, 40 RBIs, 21 runs scored and 11 doubles. He is 2-2 with a 2.39 ERA pitching with five saves. In 29 and one-third innings, he has allowed 23 hits and struck out 37 hitters.