2025 Indy Rooftop Braves Topple Top Seeds on Way to Indiana Baseball League 45+ Division Title

Indy Rooftop Braves 8, Pirates 5

Submitted by Scott Golden, Braves General Manager

The Braves finished the 2025 Indianapolis MSBL 45+ regular season with an 11-4 record and secured the #3 seed in the Playoffs. The 45+ Division is a very strong and competitive group of teams with perennial powerhouses Indy Pirates and Indy Stallions dominating over the last several seasons.

The Braves have been working very hard to stay competitive with these teams and others.  The Braves dealt with key player attrition throughout the season for various reasons and entered the playoffs with only 10 healthy players. This meant the available pitchers had few innings pitched, and some position players had to play out of their normal spots.

Field Manager Ray Starnes established the pitching rotation with Sebastian Pantano as the opener for two innings, followed by James Brown for the middle five innings and Jeremy Sassanella as the closer.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Braves found themselves down 7-2 in the sixth inning against the strong #6 seed Rockies. The attitude of the Braves, however, was upbeat and confident. James Brown was on the mound, and although giving up runs in the earlier innings, was determined to hold the Rockies where they were.  The Braves made a great comeback and secured an 8-7 victory on a walk-off bases on balls to Scott Kruger, scoring Mike Brash in the bottom of the ninth.

Timely hitting by Brash, Sassanella, Kruger, Eric Decker, and Mark Koos in the seventh got the Braves even at 7-7. The victory gave the Braves the opportunity to play the #2 seed Stallions in the semi-final round.

The Stallions were last year’s champion and a long-time class outfit with very strong pitching and hitting, who have dominated the Braves regularly over the last several years. Pantano shut down the Stallion’s big bats in the first two innings.

Offensively, the Braves struck early behind the bats of Decker, Brown, and Kruger to take a 5-1 lead through four innings.  Defensively, the Braves made several great plays to stymie a Stallion’s comeback and continued the offensive pressure to hold off the Stallions for a 9-3 victory.

On to the Championship game against the #1 seed Pirates. The Pirates go off to a 4-0 lead after five innings, holding the Braves’ bats silent. In the sixth, the Braves struck for two runs on back-to-back doubles by Brash and Keith Oehlman, along with an RBI fielder’s choice by Scott Golden.

In the seventh, the Braves got their mojo going with a leadoff triple by Sassanella, followed by base hits by Brent Coe, Oehlman, and Paul Worthington. The all-around play of Mark Koos and Scott Golden was also exceptional. Sassanella was masterful in relief to close out the game for an 8-5 win.

To win a championship after a long drought against very talented and classy teams was very rewarding for the Braves. This once again demonstrates that team chemistry and jelling together as brothers can lead to great outcomes.

The overall great play and leadership of James Brown and Jeremy Sassanella garnered them the team Co-MVP award.

The Braves want to thank all of the teams we competed against for their sportsmanship and professional approach to competition. Also, thanks to the Indianapolis MSBL administrative team.  This is a first-class organization, and we thank them for the great fields and the opportunity to play the great game of baseball.

Thanks to all of our families and fans and to our team sponsor, Mitchel Dotson

of Indy Rooftops, for their support. Let’s Go in 2026!