With another 20-win season under their belts Crawfordsville baseball now shifts its focus to the post-season and the Class 3A Sectional 25 tournament which will be hosted by the Athenians. While Cville has been a baseball staple in the area, a sectional title has alluded the Athenians for quite sometime. 2013 was the last time Cville hoisted a sectional championship Trophy.
In the opening round of this year’s tournament, Crawfordsville will see a familiar foe in a team that handed them a pair of losses this season in the SAC Champion Tri-West Bruins. The first game on Apr. 18 the Bruins earned a narrow 4-3 win and the next day were able to slug past Cville 13-8.
In the final Class 3A poll of the season both teams came ranked right next to each other. Crawfordsville ended the season as the No. 9 team in the state, while the Bruins come in ranked 10th. “There’s no doubt that we have extra incentive to be locked in for this game,” Crawfordsville coach Brett Motz said. “Tri-West is a very high quality team and we have to play with a sense of purpose and intensity. I’m happy that we’re going to be playing them in the first game and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
Cville offensively does boast the top two hitters in the Sagamore Conference from the regular season as a team they hit .314. Sophomore Wyatt Motz led the SAC with a .472 average and tallied 51 hits. Senior Cale Coursey batted .433 and was the team-leader in RBI’s with 32. Kale Wemer (.338), AJ Hall (.315), and Bryce Dowell (.303) all bat over .300 for Crawfordsville.
On the mound Cville had used the one-two punch of Coursey and Wemer all season long. Throw in reliable arms in Jude Coursey, and Dowell and the Athenians hold a team ERA of just. 2.92. C. Coursey has 91 strikeouts to go along with Wemer’s 61.
The Bruins are formidable in their own right ending their SAC Championship season with a record of 19-6 (Cville 20-8). As a team the Bruins bat .279 on the season. A pair of sophomores lead the way as Chase Hardman leads the team with a .397 average and can show good speed with six triples on the year. Jack Catt bats .346 and is the team-leader with 23 runs driven in. Brady White (.310) and Ethan Frye (.300) also bat .300 or better for the Bruins.
On the mound Tri-West is led by junior ace Isaac Pierson. Pierson is 6-1 on the season with a 1.41 ERA and in 44.2 innings has given up just nine earned runs.
Motz feels like his team is saving their best baseball for when it matters most.
“We have some guys who are swinging some real hot bats right now,” he said. “There’s also some guys throwing the ball real well. It’s any coaches dream to have their team clicking on all cylinders at this point.”
The winner of Crawfordsville and Tri-West will play the winner between Western Boone and Danville in Wednesday’s semi-final. On the opposite side of the bracket both Lebanon and Monrovia both drew byes into the semi-final.
Cville and Tri-West are scheduled for a 5 pm first pitch on Wednesday.
Tickets for this year’s sectional may purchased only only using GoFan.co. It is highly encouraged that fans purchase their tickets ahead of time as cash will not be accepted at the gate.
