By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – In the final act of a three-game season-opening homestand, the Carmel baseball team sprinted to the finish.
The Greyhounds used a tremendous first inning to take an early lead on Covenant Christian, and the momentum led Carmel to an 11-0, five-inning victory Thursday at Hartman Field. The win kept the ‘Hounds perfect to start the season at 3-0.
“The controllable thing that we take pride in is hustling on effort and how we go about our business,” said second-year Greyhounds coach Ty Neal. “I was pleased with our guys for sure.”
Neal said playing three games in three days is “not easy,” so he was proud of his team for “grinding it out. We talk about all the time preparing for the next level, and that’s a college baseball weekend there, a Friday-Saturday-Sunday three-game series, so I was proud of how they handled it.”
Carmel only gave up one hit during the game, a first-inning double. After that, the ‘Hounds were unstoppable. Hunter Snow scored the first run after Gabe Mathison drew a bases-loaded walk, then James Charland got home on a passed ball.
Parker Heaney collected the first RBIs of the game, as his left field single brought in Mathison and Chase Sabo. Carson Mace scored on Nash Skelton’s RBI fielder’s choice, Silas Neal singled Skelton home, then JD Stein blasted a right field double to score Neal.
Just like that, it was 7-0 Carmel. The ‘Hounds kept the momentum going in the second inning. The Warriors drew a leadoff walk, but pitcher Adam Buczkowski took care of business after that with three consecutive strikeouts.
In the bottom of the second, the Carmel bats picked up where they left off. Mace batted in Charland with a center field hit, then Mathison and Sabo scored on a Heaney fielder’s choice. Heaney got home after a Covenant balk, which completed the scoring.
The Greyhounds’ defense took over from there, retiring nine consecutive Covenant Christian batters. Buczkowski got the pitching win, with five strikeouts over the first two innings. Colin Cabellon threw the third inning, with one strikeout, and Evan Vogt pitched the final two innings, striking out three.
“Our pitching these three days really gave us a chance to compete at a high level,” said Neal.
Heaney totaled four RBIs, while Mace finished with two hits. Mathison hit a third-inning double.
Carmel is off for Spring Break, returning to action April 6 with its first away games of the season. The Greyhounds will play a doubleheader at Penn, the defending Class 4A state champion.