4A Sectional 14: No. 11 Columbus East, No. 15 Bloomington South both Advance
May 29, 2014
By Deryck Ramey
PBR Indiana
IHSAA 4A Sectional 14 is loaded with some of the state's top players and teams. Traveling to East Central for the opening round of the state tournament are No. 8 Columbus North, No. 11 Columbus East, No. 12 Shelbyville, No. 15 Bloomington South. and No. 24 Bloomington North. The host East Central Trojans entered as the lone unranked program in contention for the title.
Bloomington South and Shelbyville opened up the evening with an anticipated pitching matchup between South's Gage Rogers and Shelbyville's Ethan Larrison. The performance did not disappoint. East Central and Columbus East took the field for the night cap with the Olympians moving on in strong fashion.
Bloomington South- 4 Shelbyville-0
In front of several JUCO and NCAA Division I coaches, two of the top teams in 4A battled for the right to move on to Friday's contest against Columbus East who overpowered East Central in the late games. A quick game, zeroes filled the scoreboard as Larrison and Rogers allowed just four hits through 4 1/2 innings.
It was the bottom of the fifth, however, that the Panthers of Bloomington South broke the game open. Austin Knapp led the inning off with a single and Rogers reached on a walk. With two runners on base South catcher Joe Crider came to the plate. Larrison filled up the count on the strong backstop. Crider saw the next pitch up and hammered a towering drive over the deep left field fence. A three run homerun put South up 3-0.
Larrison's night on the mound was done. For the night he gave up just five hits and walked two. Larrison's fastball was 86-88 touching 89 several times. On the other side, Rogers was dominant. Throwing a complete game one hitter, Rogers struck out 10 and walked just one. Rogers' velocity was down from what we've seen before sitting 84-86, but curveball was good and kept hitters off balance.
The Panthers added another run in the bottom of the sixth. Up four, Bloomington South were able to keep Shelbyville off the scoreboard for the rest of the game. Shelbyville's impressive season ended in a tight game. Bloomington South moves on to play at 6pm on Friday night.
Columbus East- 12 East Central-0
Olympian junior righty Will Anderson played the most significant role in Columbus East's 5-inning victory over the Trojans of East Central. On the mound Anderson allowed just three hits striking out eight.
Anderson, a 6-foot-9 lanky hurler used an 83-85 downer fastball and a mid-high sixties breaking ball to control hitters through all five innings.
Anderson, a 6-foot-9 lanky hurler used an 83-85 downer fastball and a mid-high sixties breaking ball to control hitters through all five innings.
At the plate, Anderson also did work. On the night he was 2-2 with a double and a long homerun to right center. Anderson added two RBI and four runs scored.
As the final score should show, other Olympians had strong performances at the plate. Anderson's battery mate, senior catcher Christian Wichman was 3-3 with four RBI and two runs scored. Cam Curry was 1-3 with two RBI and a double.
The Olympians will see Bloomington North who won the night's first game at 6pm on Friday.