FRANKFORT – The Crawfordsville baseball team drew the battle line Tuesday evening at Frankfort.
The Athenians were playing for outright second place in the Sagamore Athletic Conference, trying to snap a two-game losing streak and exercise revenge on a hot Frankfort team from the night before.
Coach Brett Motz’s team accomplished all three of those objectives in a 2-1 win over the Hot Dogs.
“The good and bad of that is we had opportunities to break that game open and give us more cushion,” Motz said. “It also gave us the feeling what it’s like to be in a tight game.”
Senior pitcher Cale Coursey worked his magic for most of the game. Ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the seventh he gave up a pair of singles around an error to load the bases. After 87 pitches he was pulled in favor of his sophomore brother Jude, who got leadoff hitter Alex Lopez to ground into a double play to end the game with the winning run at second base.
Cale Coursey left giving up one run and five hits. He struck out and walked four each.
“When Cale pitches he does a good job of keeping the tempo up and the defense plays well behind him. No question it’s big when our defense makes plays and doesn’t give any extra at bats. That was huge Jude coming on and getting that double play.”
Motz wanted a fast start and got it. His son, sophomore Wyatt Motz, launched his second triple of the season in the first. After a Cale Coursey infield hit, Bryce Dowell drove him in with a sacrifice fly and a 1-0 lead.
The game featured the top three hitters in the SAC – Motz and Cale Coursey along with Frankfort’s Carlos Lopez. The C’ville duo did their part, both going 2-for-3. Lopez did not hit in three at bats.
“They’re just relaxed at the plate,” coach Motz said. “Obviously when you have confidence it’s extremely helpful. Those guys continue to swing hot bats. I look forward to the rest of the team getting that confidence in the next week and we get rolling.”
“Just keep your eye on the ball and hit it, I don’t even know what pitch they throw me,” Wyatt Motz said. “It’s tee work, coaches BP, just hitting. As long as we get on we have a good chance of scoring if everyone else is hitting. It’s that simple.”
Dowell had both RBI for the Athenians. The second was during a strange top of the third.
Dylan Farley led off with an infield hit. Jude Coursey grounded to short, but advanced the runner. Motz walked and was avoided a force at second on a Cale Coursey grounder to load the bases. Dowell hit one over centerfielder Quentcy Perry’s head, but runners had to hold as it was almost caught so only Farley scored. Kale Wemer then flied to right. There was confusion as to how many outs there were and the Athenians went to the dugout. After a lengthy discussion, the half inning was ruled complete as a C’ville runner left the base paths for the third out.
“I took full responsibility for that situation. It was 100 percent on me,” coach Motz said. “I told the guys that. Not only the players but the coaches had to refocus. They said ‘hey, let’s just go.’ They were able to maintain and get the win.”
That win was huge as it gave CHS (19-8, 9-4 SAC) second place alone in the conference. Frankfort (14-11, 7-6 SAC) maintains fourth place.
Coach Motz’s team closes out the regular season with a SAC contest at Lebanon Friday.
“These close games help get us ready for sectionals. We’d like to take advantage and get the big two out hits, but we’ll take this.”
CRAWFORDSVILLE 2, FRANKFORT 1
CVL 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 – 2 6 1
FFT 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 – 1 5 0
Hits: CVL – Motz 2, C. Coursey 2, Farley, Dowell; FFT – Gil-Guijosa 2, Skinner, J. Lopez, Skinner.
3B: Motz
Runs: CVL – Motz, Farley; FFT – Skinner.
RBI: CVL – Dowell 2; FFT – Gil-Guijosa.
Pitching: CVL - (C. Coursey 6.1IP 5H 1R 1ER 4K 4BB), (J. Coursey 0.2IP 0H 0R 0ER 0K 0BB); FFT - (Penry 4.1IP 4H 2R 2ER 4K 3BB), (O. Lopez 2.2IP 2H 0R 0ER 1K 1BB).
