It certainly was not baseball weather on Thursday night, but Crawfordsville and North Montgomery baseball had to play the second game of their county and Sagamore Conference series. After a small storm came through Linden on Wednesday night, it washed out Charger field so the two county teams were back at CHS on Thursday. The mist and rain made for a wet evening of baseball. After securing a 7-4 game one win on Wednesday, Crawfordsville was able to handily defeat their county rivals 12-2 for a SAC and county sweep as the Athenians claimed the 2024 county title.
The story of game two was North Montgomery’s defense as the Chargers committed six errors in the loss. Like in game one, Crawfordsville (13-9, 9-2 SAC) used a big inning to get on the scoreboard. This time it w as a six-run second where the Athenians jumped on Charger starter Cade Cole. Two Charger errors in the inning gave CHS extra outs while CHS used four hits including a two-RBI double by Jude Coursey to break things open early. North Montgomery (13-6, 6-5 SAC) responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second but three more CHS runs in the third thanks to two more Charger miscues, two in the sixth and one in the seventh allowed the Athenians to cruise to the sweep.
“I think our guys had a better approach at the plate tonight,” Crawfordsville coach Brett Motz said. “They put a lot of hard balls in play and battled with two strikes very well. We were able to score when we had runners in scoring position and less than two outs and that’s something we’ve talked about doing all season. You have to take advantage of those opportunities and I’m proud of the guys for doing just that.”
Seven different Athenian hitters recorded a hit with Coursey leading with way with 2-4 night. Wyatt Motz doubled, Bryce Dowell tripled while Kaden Patton, Mason McCarty, Kale Wemer, and Sam Minnette all found the hit column.
North recorded just three hit in the loss with Aiden Ambriz-Cruz, Noah Hopkins, and Corbin Meadows getting one hit each. The Chargers did draw nine walks and had base runners for most of the evening but just couldn’t get the big hits they needed. A prime chance came in the third inning with the bases loaded and no one out. Cade Cole grounded it right back to Coursey on the mound who tossed it to Matt Miller at the plate and then Miller fired it to first for a 1-2-3 double play.
“We were playing in the same weather that Crawfordsville was so there’s no excuses with the conditions,” Charger coach Matt Voorhees said. “We just had a lot of mental mistakes that were routine plays. If we make those we get out of that inning not giving up six runs. Cade and Corbin both I thought threw the ball fairly well, Crawfordsville just hit the ball hard. Between their eight hits and our six or seven errors we gave up 14-15 hits and that can’t happen. My disappointment in this series was that I really didn’t see that tough-mindedness that I’m used to seeing from these guys.”
Dowell began the game on the mound but after just an inning and a third was relieved by Coursey who went the distance throwing the remaining five and two-thirds. Coursey allowed just three hits and struck out seven while working around five walks. His ability to go the rest of the way helped save the rest of the Athenian pen and it was certainly a note-worthy that Motz was pleased to see.
“These conditions were not great in to pitch and we do wish that Bryce could’ve went a little longer,” Motz said. “Jude came in knew that he had a job to do and just competed. We had got that lead for him and we was able to throw strikes for the most part and have a good showing.”
Voorhees took some time afterward to compliment a pair of Athenians for their performances.
“I thought Jude came in and his curve ball was working for him,” Voorhees said of Coursey’s relief appearance. “I was really impressed too with Matt Miller behind the plate. He saved a ton of balls in the dirt for them and was able to complete a big double-play for them. He had the task of catching some tough pitchers and has done a great job for them this season.”
With three games to go in SAC play, Crawfordsville holds a two-game lead on Western Boone who split with Frankfort and is 7-4 in conference. The Athenians travel to Frankfort on Monday and can clinch a share of the SAC title with a win before hosting the Hot Dogs on Tuesday and finishing up SAC play on Friday at home vs Lebanon.
North Montgomery will take on Tri-West in their SAC series and wrap up conference play also on Friday when they host Southmont.
