The REPORTER
The Guerin Catholic baseball team earned its first Circle City Conference sweep of the season Wednesday.
The Golden Eagles beat Brebeuf Jesuit at the Braves’ field on Tuesday, and Guerin Catholic followed that with a 3-0 Wednesday victory over Brebeuf at Grand Park. The win improves GC’s conference record to 3-1 for the season.
Guerin Catholic scored all three of its runs in the fifth inning, all on one swing. Ian Taylor hit an inside-the-park home run, also scoring Gavin Spaulding and Nolan Ratcliff.
“Ian Taylor came up big,” said GC coach Keith Nunley. “(Brebeuf pitcher) Maverick Geske pitched a heck of a game.”
Karson Smith and Bryson Dorsey both finished with two hits; one of Dorsey’s hits was a double. Tate Troxell, an Alabama commit, hit a double. Troxell also got the pitching win, striking out seven over five innings. Nate Gremelspacher threw the final two innings, tossing three strikeouts.
Troxell
“I’m really enjoying coaching these guys,” said Nunley. “They’re awesome. They work really hard for us.”
The Golden Eagles are 7-1 overall. They travel to the Catholic Classic at Lafayette Central Catholic this weekend, taking on South Bend St. Joseph Friday night in their first game. Guerin Catholic then plays Highland and the host LCC Knights on Saturday.
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Wednesday night, a pair of Hoosier Crossroads Conference teams were duking it out for positioning in the middle of the pack, despite it being early in the season.
Hamilton Southeastern grabbed a fourth inning lead and held on for a 2-1 league win at home over Avon.
The Orioles got on the board quick 1-0 in the top of the first with an RBI single.
The Royals answered to tie it up 1-1 in the bottom of the second on Nolan Colbert’s line drive to center, scoring Colin Goley.
Goley drove in what wound up being the game-winning run when he lined a base hit to right, sending Michael Hoog home for the 2-1 win.
Ethan Lund threw five innings for HSE for the win. The senior hurler struck out nine Avon hitters and walked just two.
Hits were at a premium against Oriole pitching. Kam Seitz, Hoog, Goley and Colbert accounted for the four Royal hits.
The series concludes tonight as Hamilton Southeastern (6-5, 3-2 HCC) heads to Avon (5-4, 1-2 HCC) for a 6 p.m. start.
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Sheridan was also a conference winner on Wednesday, beating Clinton Prairie 3-2 in its Hoosier Heartland Conference opener.
The Blackhawks never trailed, scoring two runs in the first inning. Zach Bales hit a center field line drive that scored Dayne Voege, then Jack Oland got home on Cole Mackintosh’s sacrifice fly. The Gophers got a run back in the third inning, but Sheridan scored again in the fourth, as Caleb Alexander’s right field hit brought Camden Spencer home.
Keegan Stout and Alexander both had two hits. Bales pitched a dominant complete game, tossing 14 strikeouts.
The Blackhawks are 6-2 and play another HHC game tonight at Eastern.
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University dropped a 5-4 game to Brownsburg Wednesday at RoundTripper Academy.
The Trailblazers scored a run in the third inning; Ryan Castetter got home on Mark Hamby’s RBI groundout. The Bulldogs responded with three runs in the top of the fourth after three consecutive base hits.
Brownsburg added one run each in the fifth and sixth innings. University made a comeback in the bottom of the sixth, starting with a two-RBI hit for Owen Schellhase that sent Jimmy Caldwell and Beckett Suh home. The ‘Blazers loaded the bases and Cooper Burnett scored when Castetter drew a walk. But the Bulldogs got the third out and held off University in the seventh.
Castetter and Burnett were both 2-for-3, with Burnett hitting a double. Suh pitched four innings, striking out five.
The Trailblazers are 4-4-1 and host Liberty Christian today in a Pioneer Conference North game.