INDIANAPOLIS
Two games, two days and two different facilities.
Such is life for baseball teams in the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference, which has made a habit of offering up midweek crash courses in familiarity.
On Tuesday, Class 4A No. 5 Center Grove overpowered host Lawrence Central, 13-0, in five innings, to improve to 2-0 in league play and 6-1 overall. The Bears, who play this afternoon on the Trojans’ diamond, drop to 2-1.
“We have to be mature (today),” Center Grove coach Keith Hatfield said. “Even though we beat them, 13-0, we have to show some maturity and come out ready to play again because (LC) has athletes.”
The Trojans belted out 12 hits and rode the two-hit pitching of right-hander Drue Young. The senior struck out the side in the bottom of the first inning and proceeded from there, finishing with nine strikeouts and no walks.
Lawrence Central’s hits were singles by junior starting pitcher Charlie Hawk and senior Cooper Williams.
Young, who wasn’t satisfied with his performance in a recent 6-0 defeat of Warren Central in the team’s MIC opener, told Hatfield he would be better in his next start.
The Indiana Wesleyan recruit lived up to his words and then some, fanning four of the final five batters he faced.
“Even though we won that (Warren Central) game and shut them out, I definitely wasn’t sharp,” Young said. “I did tell him that I was going to pick it up this game and be who I really am. That’s exactly what I did today.”
To say Young had help is the grand slam of understatements.
Center Grove roughed up Hawk with two runs in the first inning and six more in the top of the third. Lawrence Central eventually went to its bullpen, using Bryce Elmore and later Ta’Shaun Coleman in relief.
Sophomore leadoff hitter Drew Culbertson started the game with a single for the Trojans, advancing to second on a throwing error. Mitchell Evans powered a double to deep center field to bring Culbertson home, and eventually scored himself on another Bears miscue.
Culbertson led off his squad’s half of the third by blasting a home run over the left-field fence. That was followed by a Sam Griffith triple, an Evans single and Owen Guilfoy’s deep shot to center that was misplayed by the Bears. Garrison Barile (double) and Matthew Sauter (single) got in the act for Center Grove, which sent 10 players to the plate in the third frame alone.
Culbertson, Evans, Sauter and senior first baseman Zach Ferguson ended up with two hits apiece.
Hatfield, who figured the game would be closer with the Bears pitching their ace, could find little fault with what his team did at the plate.
“Charlie Hawk is a really good pitcher,” Hatfield said. “We had a really good approach, and when he made mistakes over the middle of the plate, we put a barrel on it. It was just a good offensive day for us against a good pitcher.”
