Crawfordsville baseball came back from their Tennessee trip batting .205. It’s safe to say that the Athenians have figured things out at the plate. After getting a dominating 13-2 win at Tri-West on Tuesday, CHS finally got to play in front of their home crowd for the first time all season when the Bruins made the trip to Crawfordsville to complete the two game set. After pounding out 16 hits on Tuesday, the Athenians picked up where they left off and continued to collect hit after hit. 14 more hits resulted in a 14-5 win and a sweep of Tri-West.
Combining the two nights Crawfordsville’s offense scored 27 runs on 30 hits as once again every single player in the lineup got a hit.
“These past two nights have been awesome to watch our offense go to work,” Crawfordsville coach Brett Motz said. “I’m really hoping this allows us and gives us the confidence we need to have this consistency the rest of the season. I know how hitting comes and goes but hopefully we can continue to figure out how to get a majority of lineup be as confident at the plate as they were these last two games.”
Tri-West (2-6, 2-2 SAC) scored four of their five runs in the first two innings off of CHS senior pitcher Bryce Dowell. After that, Dowell was able to settle in for the most part despite and give the Athenians six innings. Dowell did scatter six walks but he and the Athenian defense were able to hold the Bruins at bay after the first two innings.
Crawfordsville (6-6, 4-0 SAC) gave Dowell great run support and responded with five runs in the first and three in the second. Offensively Wyatt Motz had himself another three-hit game and scored three runs, Dowell had a single and a double to go along with three RBI’s, Kale Wemer added three RBI’s, as did Matt Miller who went 2-5. Mason McCarty also drove in a pair.
On the mound in those six innings, Dowell gave up nine hits and five earned runs. He struck out five while walking six. Motz was still proud of his senior for giving the team six innings of work and settling in after the rough start.
“He didn’t have command of all of his pitches tonight but found ones that were working,” Motz said. “I think he was really able to be more consistent as the game went on. Bryce still has some work to do and we all know the type of pitcher he can be for us. I hope he still is able to gain some confidence from this outing and begin to feel comfortable throwing all of his pitches for strikes.”
Crawfordsville also got to see Jude Coursey come in and make his first appearance on the mound since the final game of the Tennessee trip. Coursey struck out the first two hitters he faced and got the Bruins in quick order to seal the win.
Through four games of Sagamore Conference play, the Athenians are the only un-beaten at 4-0. Western Boone swept Lebanon and is 3-1 while a bulk of the conference sits at 2-2 with North Montgomery at 1-3 and Southmont 0-4. The win for CHS is also their sixth in their last seven games and it looks like Cville is beginning to find their rhythm after a slow start.
“There’s still a lot of things we can get better at,” Motz concluded. “If we can continue to grow and develop as a team and get confidence one through nine in our lineup in any spot. It was good to Jude get back on the mound and look sharp. We’re still getting all the pieces put together but these guys are beginning to establish where they’re at and it’s fun to watch.”
CHS will be back at home on Friday night for a game against sectional foe Northview before having another big SAC game on Saturday when they travel to Memorial Park to take on Lebanon.
