Saturday afternoon was one that was needed for the Crawfordsville baseball team. After a difficult week which saw CHS get swept by Western Boone and then drop its third straight game to North Putnam on Friday, CHS hosted West Lafayette and got back on track with a 7-1 win.
The game saw four different Athenian pitchers hold the Red Devils to just a single run. Kale Wemer, Bryce Dowell, and Jude Coursey all pitched two innings while freshman Jayden Jimenez closed the door in the seventh.
Crawfordsville’s (11-9) big inning came in the fourth where Wemer got things going with a one-out single. A fly out by Henry Bannon had CHS down to their final out of the inning, but a Red Devil error allowed Coursey to reach and gave Crawfordsville an extra out. Wyatt Motz then singles home Wemer and then Dowell blew the game open with a three-run home run to left field to make it 6-1. CHS added their final run in the seventh inning as Sam Minnette drew a bases loaded walk.
“Getting a win to end the week was big for our mindset as we obviously have two big conference games this week,” Cville coach Brett Motz said. “Our overall attitude is a lot better after getting off this mini losing streak too. Today was a good day to get some guys going at the plate and having a much better defensive day too. All of our pitchers also got some work and they feel good heading into an important week.”
While the Athenians only had five hits, they drew seven walks. Matt Miller reached base all four times with three free passes and a single. Miller, Wemer, Motz, Coursey, and Dowell had the five hits. The four-some of pitchers struck out nine Red Devil hitters. Collin Kastens had a two-hit day for the Red Devils while Camden Proctor, Jacob Deutsch, Lincoln Furry, and Aiden Heap all had one hit each.
Dowell’s long ball tied him with Wemer for the team-lead with 20 RBI’s on the season while he’s now up to 12 extra-base hits in what’s been a great season at the plate for the senior.
“Bryce has been that guy that has been consistently a threat at the plate for us all season long,” Motz said. “He continues to have the confidence of the entire team that he’s going to get a big hit or find his way on base. Every team needs a guy like that and we’re very lucky to have Bryce fill that role for us.”
As Motz alluded to in his opening comments, CHS has it’s two biggest games ahead of them this week. If mother nature cooperates, Crawfordsville will travel to county rival North Montgomery for a 7 p.m. start on Tuesday before hosting the Chargers on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Cville still holds a 7-2 mark in SAC play but the Chargers are right behind them at 6-3. It’s always a fun and entertaining series between the two county rivals and this time the stakes are a little higher.
“We’re going to be ready and prepared for these games, there’s no question about that,” Motz said. “We’ve tried to have the mentality that whatever game is next in front of us is our biggest game of the season and I really hope that approach continues to be understood by our guys. There’s no question that these games are important but we can’t get so amped up to where we lose focus of the task at hand.”
The county rivalry should be begin with a bang as the top two pitchers in the Sagamore Conference will square off when Wemer and Jarrod Kirsch meet in game one. Dowell vs Cade Cole is the likely pitching matchup for game two.
