Center Grove baseball coach Keith Hatfield figures he has the luxury of three No. 1 pitchers.
“The three guys we threw tonight needed to get work because we only had two games this week,” Hatfield said. “Any one of those three we feel good throwing out there.”
Sophomore pitcher Kellen Thomson started and pitched three scoreless innings in the Class 4A No. 1 Trojans’ 13-1 rout of Greenwood on Friday evening at Center Grove. The game was supposed to be at Greenwood but was moved to Center Grove because of field conditions.
Senior Conner Vander Luitgaren threw one scoreless inning and sophomore Kobe Cherry gave up one run in one inning for the Trojans (10-0).
“Once he learns to get ahead of guys, he’s going to be pretty dangerous,” Hatfield said of Thomson. “He could have thrown varsity last year for a lot of teams, but we were so senior-loaded last year that I wanted him to get as many innings as possible last year on JV.”
Thomson, who improved to 3-0, said he settled in during his three-inning stint.
“I struggled with command a little bit early but I figured it out and thought I threw pretty well,” he said. “I think I’m off to a great start. I put in a lot of work in the offseason and I’m really happy with where I am right now.”
The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Thomson said he has made the biggest improvement in strength.
“I’ve been living in the weight room and put on a lot of weight,” he said. “I’ve grown an inch or two, too.”
While Thomson was happy to get work, junior Andrew Krupa was just as pleased to end a slump. The junior, who had only one hit in 11 at-bats entering the game, belted a three-run homer over the right-field fence.
“He’s worked and worked this because his swing didn’t feel good to him and he wasn’t having a whole lot of success through the first handful of games,” Hatfield said. “For him to be rewarded was really good to see.”
Krupa, who walked in his other two plate appearances, said the homer should prove to be a confidence boost.
“I had a lot of excitement when I got that homer, because obviously I’ve been trying to break out of this and that was awesome for me,” Krupa said. “It felt good off the bat. I didn’t know if it was going to go, but it did.”
Hatfield said it was a good offensive game for the entire team.
“We had a lot of base hits and extra-base hits,” said Hatfield, whose team racked up 14 hits.
Senior Noah Coy had a three-run triple and sophomore Tristan Yerman knocked in two runs with a triple and added a run-scoring single.
Greenwood coach Andy Bass said his players hit the ball hard — but right at Center Grove players.
“The difference was they commanded the zone and we did not,” said Bass, whose team’s record dropped to 2-4. “We struggled to do that and got behind guys, and against a team like Center Grove you can’t do that. Once you get behind, those hitters are sitting and they’re going to hit. We just have to get ahead of the hitters.”
Senior Jagger Bray got the Woodmen’s only hit, a single, in the first inning.
