INDIANAPOLIS
Center Grove’s baseball team had been riding a 15-game win streak over the past month, taking most of those games in dominating fashion against inferior competition.
On Friday night, the Class 4A No. 3 Trojans faced quite a bit more resistance than they’d become accustomed to.
Brownsburg struck for six second-inning runs and hurler Ty Mathews never let Center Grove back in the game, rolling to a 12-1 triumph in the opener of the Victory Field Classic.
At least on the surface, the result was a stunning one for the Trojans (17-2), who had outscored opponents 172-21 since losing to top-ranked Columbus North on April 3. But coach Keith Hatfield didn’t seem particularly shocked.
"I thought the atmosphere was a little too big for us," he said. "Brownsburg plays in a conference that the atmosphere is at a 9 or a 10 every time they play; we don’t. … So when we see a pitcher like (Mathews), they’re seeing it every week. We’re seeing it every other week, if that."
After a scoreless first, Center Grove starter Caden Cornett ran into serious trouble in the top of the second. He gave up two singles, an RBI double and a walk to open the frame, then surrendered a two-run double to No. 9 hitter Gavin Pierson to fall into a 3-0 hole with nobody out. A bases-loaded single from Jackson Fought plated two more runs, another scored on a wild pitch, and Cornett exited down six with the bags full and two out.
Mathews helped himself out with an RBI groundout in the third to make it 7-0, and a run-scoring single from Fought highlighted a two-run fifth for the Bulldogs. That was more than enough against the Trojans, who managed just two hits.
"(Mathews) did a great job mixing it up," Hatfield said. "Did a great job of pounding the zone. … I thought we showed some inexperience, and credit to them, because they swung the bat and took advantage of our 10 walks."
The Trojans finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Walks to Garrison Barile, Collin Taylor and Grant Sawa loaded the bases with nobody out, and Matthew Sauter scored Barile with a sacrifice fly to center. The Bulldogs, though, turned a 4-6-3 double play to prevent their lead from eroding any further, then ended the game in the sixth with a bases-loaded walk and a two-run single by Mathews.
Center Grove doesn’t have any time to dwell on the defeat, as it hosts Martinsville at noon today before playing a two-game series against MIC rival Carmel and then traveling to Franklin.
Hatfield is looking forward to getting right back on the field, and he’s hopeful that his team will have a chance to tackle some more challenging opposition between now and the sectional. Just five of the Trojans’ first 18 games went the full seven innings, and the coach believes that was a factor on Friday.
"We need to see (pitchers) like that more often," Hatfield said. "If we only see five of those guys a year, it’s not doing us any good to prepare for the tournament, when you’re going to see everybody’s 1 and 2 the entire way. So no, we don’t need to lose, but we need to be in atmospheres like that, because that’s how we’re going to get better."
