When Edinburgh catcher Ian Buchanan squeezed a pop up off the bat of Greenwood Christian’s Eli Ellis, the Lancer baseball team had secured its first multi-win season since 2019.
It was an unlikely 10-7 victory for the Lancers, who came back from an early deficit, maneuvered around multiple bases-loaded jams, and capitalized on defensive miscues that plagued the Cougars.
The Cougars (5-5) got the scoring started early, as Caden Camden laced the first pitch of the game into right field for a base hit. Edinburgh starting pitcher Gabe Bennett hit GCA’s Charlie Overton on the next pitch, setting the stage for a matchup with Trey Harney III, who launched a 2-2 offering past the right-field fence for a three-run homer. Bennett settled down, striking out three of the next four batters to finish the frame without further damage.
The Lancers (2-9) returned the favor in the home half of the inning. Walks to Jarrett Turner and Travis Jones followed a leadoff single by Riley Palmeter. With the bases loaded and nobody out, a throw from third base went wide of the catcher, bringing home two Lancer runners. Bennett then added his bat to the equation, driving in Jones with a base knock to knot it up at 3-3.
After a scoreless top of the second that featured Bennett diving to catch a Mason Wright liner and turning a double play at first base, the Lancers capitalized on four Cougar errors in the bottom of the frame, scoring two runs and bringing seven hitters to the plate despite not registering a hit.
The miscues were the difference in the ballgame, GCA coach Doug Hagist said.
“We had six errors and probably gave up four earned runs at best,” he said. “Whenever you outhit a team and lose, there’s something wrong. We had two or three mental errors as well. We’re going to find out what kind of team we are. Either we’ll come back and play hard tomorrow, or we’ll roll over and die again. It’s a find-out game tomorrow. Edinburgh put the ball in play and we just didn’t make the plays. We had six errors; we’ve got to field the ball.”
The third inning featured a Houdini act by Bennett, as he struck out back-to-back GCA batters after loading the bases on two walks sandwiched around an error. The Lancers rode that momentum into the bottom of the third, where they brought out the bats and scored four runs on four hits, capped off by a Jones two-run jack, his first of the season, to make it 9-3.
The Cougars responded with four runs of their own in the top half of the fourth, stringing together five consecutive hits. One of those was a three-run moon shot to left field by Harney, his sixth round-tripper of the season and second of the game, to cut Edinburgh’s lead to 9-7.
After GCA relief pitcher Eli Ellis struck out the side to end the fourth, GCA looked to tie or take the lead with a walk and a hit to open the top of the fifth, but two runners were caught on the basepaths, helping Edinburgh escape the inning without any damage. In the bottom of the fifth, Ellis continued his dominance, once again striking out the side.
The Cougars looked poised again to tie or take the lead in the top of the sixth inning, when a double, a walk, and a hit batter loaded the bases with nobody out. But Landen Burton came on in relief for Edinburgh, striking a batter out looking before his infielders stepped up with two fielder’s choices forcing outs at home plate.
“I knew I had to come in and throw strikes and have the defense do what they do,” Burton said. “I was just trying to throw strikes, even when I got down in the count.”
The Lancers finally got to Ellis in the bottom of the inning, as Bennett drew a bases-loaded walk on a 3-2 pitch after previous batters reached on an error, a hit batsman, and a perfectly executed bunt for a hit by Burton. Ellis limited the damage, striking out back-to-back hitters to end the inning with the Cougars down three.
Burton stayed on for the seventh to try and close things out for the Lancers, but after a strikeout to start things off, things got dicey as back-to-back singles brought Harney, who had already driven in six that game, to the plate as the potential tying run. A hard-fought at-bat yielded Burton a strikeout on a full count before Ellis’ foul pop-up to end the game.
This was a statement game for Edinburgh, according to coach Dennis Smith.
“It’s just something I talk to them about every day, about just competing no matter the score,” he said. “We felt we’ve had tough breaks. We’ve been in games that haven’t fallen our way. We were up 6-5 against North Decatur and gave up a grand slam. Kudos to the guys who pitched tonight. The biggest thing is to keep competing no matter what.
“I thought we did what we had to do to score runs. We put pressure on the defense. Landen pitched well and put down a bunt to help get that one more run in. This is the first time we bunted that much. It feels really good. That’s what the whole conversation was after Saturday: let’s scratch that game, let’s move on and let’s compete.”
Both teams will play on the road next, with GCA taking on Irvington Prep in Indianapolis today and Edinburgh traveling to Morristown Thursday.
