NEW ALBANY — Jeffersonville scored in all but one inning and beat rival New Albany 12-5 in the semifinal of the Hoosier Hills Conference Tournament on Wednesday at Mt. Tabor Field.

The Red Devils (11-8) play their third tournament road game Friday at Class 4A No. 5 Bedford North Lawrence, which beat Columbus East 5-1 on Wednesday, for the conference championship.

The Stars (17-2) beat Jeff 9-3 on April 22 and host the sectional later this month.

“We would love to play at home, but we’re just glad we’re playing in the championship game of the conference tournament,” Jeff coach Derek Ellis said. “Might as well get used to it. We’re going to have the sectional [at Bedford]. They got us so we’ve got a little bit of a chip on our shoulder. We’re going to go up there and we’re going to try to win this thing.”

The Devils got the scoring going early but for the first three innings, the Bulldogs (10-7) matched them every time.

Ethan English’s 2-run home run to right field in the first gave the Devils their first lead. English later pitched 4 1/3 innings of relief, struck out seven and did not surrender a hit.

“You don’t know if his heart’s beating. I don’t know if he has a pulse or not,” Ellis said of English. “Extremely pleased with the way he pitched. He set the tone at the plate getting the home run in the first inning. It’s kind of contagious. When one guy starts to hit, then everybody seems to hit.”

Chase Rudy’s 2-RBI single tied the game in the bottom of the first, but New Albany got a lot of help from the Devils with their scoring. In all, 10 Bulldog batters reached base via a walk or being hit. Altogether, the hosts had just three hits.

The main struggle for the Dogs was on the mound. They sent four pitchers to the mound in an effort to cool the Devils down.

“We just couldn’t find any answers pitching tonight,” New Albany coach Chris McIntyre said. “I could’ve brought a couple other different guys in, but it didn’t make any difference. Those guys have got to compete. In the sectional now with the pitch count, you’re going to have to go maybe three, four guys deep. The guys have got to get used to playing against this competition. I was very disappointed in our pitching.”

The rivals added three runs apiece in the second and third innings. The highlight was a solo shot to right center from Jeff’s Jack Ellis. The third baseman was 3-for-3 with two home runs and four RBIs. He reached base in all five plate appearances.

“We started out hot and just kept rolling through all seven innings,” he said. “[We] put up 12 runs and I think the rivalry really got us going tonight.”

English took to the mound in the bottom of the third with two outs and shut down the Dogs. After he entered, New Albany managed just three base runners and none got further than second.

Jeff added five runs in the final two innings. Two of them walked home in the sixth. English’s sacrifice fly scored the first in the seventh and Ellis’ 2-run shot made the final score.

New Albany will play for third place at Columbus East on Friday. The loss to Jeff evened the season series between the Devils and Dogs. The rubber match is in the first game of the sectional later this month.

“Baseball is such a streaky kind of sport,” McIntyre said. “[Sectional is] still two weeks away. From game to game they change so much. You see in the big leagues a team will come out and score 19 runs one night and get shut out the next. … We just didn’t play well tonight and we didn’t pitch worth a darn.”

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JEFFERSONVILLE 12, NEW ALBANY 5

Jeffersonville 212 202 3—12 10 1

New Albany 212 000 0— 5 3 1

W — Ethan English. L — Owen Tankersley. 2B — Michael Minton (J), Drew Taylor (J), Jacob Mullins (N), English (J). HR — Jack Ellis 2 (J), English (J). Records — Jeffersonville 11-8, New Albany 10-7.

justin.maskulinski@newsandtribune.com