LEBANON - Nothing seemed to go right for the Lebanon baseball team on Saturday morning against Crawfordsville in a Sagamore Conference match-up.
Across the board - from pitching, to fielding and hitting - the Tigers couldn't find any rhythm and ended up falling 18-3 in five innings.
"It came down to a couple things - our pitchers lack of throwing strikes and then we had some routine type plays where we didn't catch the ball," Lebanon head coach Rick Cosgray said. "Obviously that is the basics of the game, and we proved we could do it for three games this week, but today wasn't our day."
The biggest problem for Tigers were the walks.
Four Tiger pitchers combined to walk 13 batters and hit a batter.
Six different Athenians drew walks, with Austin Motz drawing four and Alex Kellerman drwing three.
"Our team actually has drawn a lot of walks," Crawfordsville head coach Brett Motz said. "Our approach has been to be aggressive at the plate, and it was good to see our guys understand that if the pitcher is struggling a little bit, we need to take advantage of that as much as we can."
That approach for the Athenians started in the first inning.
With one on and two outs, three-straight walks to A.J. Hall, Kellarman and Kaiden Underwood forced in a run. Wyatt Motz then hit a 2-run single on an 0-2 pitch to make it 3-0, before the Athenians made it 4-0 on an RBI-single by Kale Wemer.
"That was big," coach Motz said. "It's something that definitely allows our pitchers to be more comfortable attacking the zone. Our guys do that anyway, but it allows them to be even more comfortable. Our offense has, throughout the season, done a good job of locking in early and I'm proud of them for continuing to come out like that and it was a really good way to start the game."
Lebanon had chances to get back into the game in the first two innings.
The Tigers loaded the bases with one out in the first, but a strike out and fly out ended the threat.
After holding the Athenians scoreless in the second, Lebanon got a lead-off single and had two on with two outs, but a strike out ended the threat.
"Their pitchers were throwing strikes and giving themselves an opportunity to be successful," Cosgray said. "We just didn't step up and get the big hit that we needed to get back into it. This was not a mentality issue coming in today. Our kids were excited to come out and compete, but when you come out and don't do some of the basics, this is what happens."
The Athenians pulled away in the next two innings.
Crawfordsville scored twice in the third on two wild pitches with two outs.
Lebanon got on the board with a long home run from Brayton Bowen (2-for-3) in the third, but the visitors countered with 10 runs in the top of the fourth.
The big blows came on a 3-run homer by Wemer and a 2-run single by Underwood. Seven-straight Athenians reached after two outs, plating five runs.
Wemer was 3-for-4 with five RBIs in the game. Wyatt Motz was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Each team scored twice in the fifth, with Lebanon getting a 2-run homer by Cannon Morton.
Cale Coursey got the win for the Athenians, pitching four innings and allowing one run on six hits. He struck out seven.
"He allowed some base runners, but when the most important pitches needed to be made, he stepped up and made those pitches," Motz said. "That's going to be huge for us. We want him locked in every pitch, but even when he allows a runner to get on, he seems to always step up and pitch his best when his back is against the wall."
The Athenians continue their impressive season as the win pushes their record to 11-1 and they remain perfect at 5-0 in the Sagamore Conference.
Lebanon is back in action on Tuesday at home against Tri-West. Crawfordsville is also back in action Tuesday, hosting Southmont.
