Indian Creek baseball thumps Center Grove

<p>Indian Creek held off a late rally to win on Center Grove’s home field during last year’s Johnson County baseball tournament.</p><p>Back on the Trojans’ turf Tuesday for the first round of this year’s tourney, the Braves made an even more emphatic statement, rolling to an 11-2 victory.</p><p>Indian Creek (3-1) jumped out to an early five-run lead, held off a Center Grove comeback bid in the middle innings and slammed the door shut with a six-run sixth to earn a Saturday semifinal date with Edinburgh.</p><p>&quot;I’m really proud of our guys,&quot; Indian Creek coach Steve Mirizzi said. &quot;We challenged them after a tough loss last night, we came in here with the expectation to win and defend our title.&quot;</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>The Braves were in control almost throughout.</p><p>After striking out the side in the first inning, Center Grove starter Brian Gaffney hit a rough patch in the second. Trevor Ankney drew a leadoff walk and advanced when Cody Grider reached on a botched fielder’s choice. After advancing on a Jacob Fending groundout, courtesy runners Reid Crowell and Chris Long were able to score on a passed ball and a wild pitch, respectively.</p><p>The Trojans’ struggles continued into the third. Mason Britt, Dustin Sprong and Wyatt Phillips drew consecutive walks with no one out, and after a wild pitch plated Britt, Grider laced a one-out single to left, bringing Sprong and Phillips home to make it 5-0.</p><p>Ankney, meanwhile, was cruising early. He retired the first seven batters he faced and didn’t yield a hit until the fourth inning, when Jackson Young followed a pair of walks with a two-out single up the middle to get Grant Herron home.</p><p>The Trojans finally got to Ankney in the fifth, when doubles by Jimmy Wolff and Herron chased the Braves’ starter from the game with runners on second and third. But Sprong entered and struck out the next two hitters to end the threat and hold the score at 5-2.</p><p>&quot;Nothing’s really on my mind except for strike these next two kids out, get the outs and go put up some runs,&quot; Sprong said of entering in a pressure situation.</p><p>Having escaped trouble, Indian Creek was done messing around. Devyn Parr led off the sixth with a walk, and after Clay Key’s bunt single, Xavier Ferris and Britt delivered back-to-back RBI base hits. The Trojans chose to walk Sprong to load the bases, and the decision backfired — Ferris scored on a passed ball, and Phillips roped a ball over the left-field wall for a three-run homer to seal it.</p><p>Sprong finished things off with 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief. He and Ankney each struck out five.</p><p>&quot;Hats off to Trevor and Dustin coming in and doing their job,&quot; Mirizzi said. &quot;That’s what we expect out of those guys, and we knew if we could put up a few runs, give them some run support, we really liked our chances.&quot;</p>