IHSAA baseball: Where Bloomington area teams stand heading into sectionals this week
And here's the pitch...
Four county baseball teams will begin their postseason journey when the sectionals kick off this week, so let's look in on how those squads are shaping up before the lineup cards are turned in:
Bloomington South
The Panthers are 12-12, which is more indicative of their schedule than the level of talent. South has played the top team in Class 4A, Center Grove, twice. And No. 2 Mooresville, No. 3 Castle, No. 5 Evansville North, No. 8 Jasper, No. 10 Columbus North (18-6-2) and a Floyd Central team with 18 wins.
It's not ideal to head into sectionals on a three-game losing skid, while going 2-6 in May, but last week's opponents are 64-13-2.
It's not without reason South coach Phil Kluesner has exposed his team to at least four of Indiana University's top in-state recruits along with Vandy commit and the state's 2021 Gatorade Player of the Year, Max Clark.
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But he also has to make sure his team isn't discouraged going into its opener on Wednesday at 8 p.m. vs. Shelbyville (12-13), a team that's hit the ball well and stunned Columbus North, but also carries a 5.51 team ERA and has lost four straight.
South pitching has been top-notch, with an outstanding mark of 2.55. Five of the arms who have eaten a bulk of the innings are all under 3.00.
It starts with ace Nico Walters (4-3, 1 save, 1.40 ERA), who has struck out 53 and given up just 21 hits and walked 23 for an impressive 1.10 WHIP. Blaise Oeding (4-4, 1.95 ERA, 42K, 16 BB), AJ Brinson (2-3 2.63) and Cooper Webb (1-0, 2.33) give South the depth it will need to win three sectional games.
The defense has been solid. The hitting has been handcuffed at times, but understandable given the quality pitching they've faced. Leadoff man Brinson (.350, 11 RBI) is the only Panther over .300 and has stolen 10 bases. Webb (.278, 13 SB) and Mason Younger (16 RBI) are South's other top threats.
Bloomington North
The Cougars (13-10) ended the season winning six out of seven, including a stunning 3-1 decision in 14 innings against Columbus North.
The one loss, however, was Floyd Central's third no-hitter of the season, so head coach Richard Hurt tried to jump-start his team in the regular season finale last Saturday knowing it will be Friday before the sectional opener vs. Columbus East (11-16-1).
North is batting .288, led by slugger Dylan Barrow (.344, 4 HR, 21 RBI), Jackson Roberts (.338, 9 SB), Caden McCoy (.329, 15 RBI) and Lucas Alexander (.329), but is might need some small ball (as is South), to survive sectional.
Columbus North has three strong arms to deal with, so North is in better shape having drawn the first-round bye.
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McCoy (2-4, 3.33 ERA, 62 K) has been handed the top assignments all year, with five others equally splitting another 100 innings. Fellow lefty Cole Grupenhoff (0-0, 1.40), Drew Ogden (1-2, 1.50), Alexander (4-2, 1.40) and Roberts (1-1, 3.23) give Hurt plenty of options in relief.
The team ERA is 2.63 but North has walked a lot of batters (82) and hit too many as well (32), so that is something they'll look to clean up.
Edgewood
The Mustangs (15-11) had to find some new leaders and some new producers this season and along the way the sophomore class also distinguished itself.
Edgewood suffered just one loss in Western Indiana Conference play, to sectional rival West Vigo, and wouldn't meet the 3A No. 3 Vikings (25-1) again until the final. Before that, Edgewood will open Wednesday with Brown County (1-14), a team that's been shutout nine times, then Sullivan (7-16-1) or Indian Creek (11-8) in the semifinals.
The Mustangs faced a similar scenario last year, holding back ace Luke Hayden to use in their sectional showdown and it worked. This year's ace, Conner Thummel is still in Edgewood's back pocket, as is West Vigo's No. 1. Indiana State recruit Carter Murphy did not play as Rhyan Shaffer one-hit the Mustangs.
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Thummel has been the MVP so far, going 5-2 with a 1.70 ERA, 46 strikeouts while also hitting .433 with 24 RBI. There are seven more Mustangs batting .300 or better, led by Isaac Lawson (.393, 17 RBI), Gabe Headdy (.342), Brayden Ault (.318, 17 RBI), Andrew Good (.310, 11 SB) and leadoff hitter Cam Ingalls (.302, 2 HR, 20 RBI, 17 BB, 20 SB).
Jacob Waugh (3-2, 3.50), Carson Druckey (2-0, 5.32) and Ziggy Teran (3-2, 2.97, 32K) have been the other starters most of the season with sophomore Jacob Boggs (3.67) making 15 appearances out of the bullpen with two saves.
Edgewood has played 10 games vs. 4A competition so it should be prepared well enough to make a run at a third straight sectional title.
Eastern Greene
The T-Birds made it though April with a 6-6 record which in itself was a vast improvement over last year.
May wasn't quite as kind but the schedule did pick up a bit, including a rematch with Loogootee and games vs. Linton, Bloomington North and Barr-Reeve, which left Eastern 9-14 going into the Class 2A sectional at Mitchell.
There were a lot of lopsided games in the mix, with 14 games decided by six runs or more.
A week off awaits Eastern after drawing the host Bluejackets (16-9) in the semifinals Memorial Day morning.
The bats have been stronger this year, led by Peyton Lewis (.333, 21 RBI, 8 SB), Will Inman (.333, 13 RBI, 8 SB), Luke Abram (.343) and Brandon Flieger (.326, 12 RBI).
Lewis, Inman, Rylan Sullivan (.278, 2 HR), Kasen Cullison and Gavin Whitfield have handled most of the innings. It's been a youthful group still going through growing pains, resulting in a 5.21 ERA with 87 walks to 111 strikeouts.
Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Where Bloomington area baseball teams stand heading into sectionals