LIZTON — May 24, 2023. That is a day that Crawfordsville baseball remembered the entire off-season as they prepared for for Tuesday’s night game. That’s the day where Tri-West ended the Athenians season as the Bruins won a 1-0 pitchers dual in the Class 3A Sectional 25. Tuesday CHS traveled to Tri-West looking for revenge and the Atheniangs got that and more. Using 16 hits with every player getting at least one, Crawfordsville rolled to a 13-2 win in six innings and made an early-season statement.
Crawfordsville (5-6, 3-0 SAC) got on the board in a big way with five runs in the third on six hits (all singles). Mason McCarty got things started and Jude Coursey followed suit. Wyatt Motz reached on an error and with the bases loaded, Bryce Dowell drove in the first of the five runs. Kale Wemer singled home two more, Sam Minnette got an RBI groundout and then Matt Miller and Henry Bannon both singled as everyone on the Athenian offense was making contact and getting on base.
Three more doubles in the fourth by Motz, Dowell, and Patton scored a single run and then Crawfordsville sealed the game with a seven-run sixth.
“This was a fun game for me to watch,” Crawfordsville coach Brett Motz said of the big SAC win. “Our kids have prepared for this game every since they ended our season last year. There’s no question that we used that as motivation and for them to come out and play the way they did tonight, I’m super proud of them. We played with a great level of intensity and we treated this like a sectional game.”
Wemer got the start on the mound and the Bruins were able to score both of their runs in the third. Cam Brozak singled, Braden Brozak was then hit by a pitch and JackCatt hit a towering double to left-center. The only other blemish on Wemer’s night came in the fourth when he gave up a one-out double but quickly got the next two hitters. Wemer’s final line score was an impressive one as he gave up the two earned runs on three hits. He struck out 11 and walked none.
“The team did a great job of hitting tonight and as a pitcher that gives you so much confidence,” Wemer said. “It wasn’t just me on the mound, we all came together on offense and just kept hitting. My defense made some great playes behind me too and this was just a complete team win. I wanted this game so bad and that teams underestimated us at the beginning of the year with how we started. Coming out and doing what we did against the team that won the conference last year says a lot about our guys.”
Coming into Tuesday night across the SAC, Lebanon and Tri-West were the two undefeated teams along with CHS in the conference. Western Boone defeated Lebanon 6-3 and that means with the Cville win that the Athenians are the lone un-beaten in the conference two weeks into SAC play.
Motz wants his team to enjoy the win but also knows there’s plenty left to take care of as CHS looks to continue building momentum.
“I do want them to enoy this a little bit,” he said. “But at the same time I want us to use this game to be more consistent going forward. I hope that this is the mindset that this group takes forward the rest of the way because this is the type of way we can play when we’re clicking.”
Tri-West (2-5, 2-1 SAC) used three different pitchers in the loss. Caden Murphy took the loss going three innings and giving up eight hits and five runs but just two earned. He struck out out three. Brady White came into pitch the next two innings while Cam Brozak threw the sixth.
Crawfordsville and Tri-West will play back at CHS on Wednesday night in what is scheduled to be the home opener for CHS as they go for the SAC sweep.
