SHELBYVILLE — If there was a lesson for Columbus East baseball opponents to learn Friday night, it’s that you don’t poke the bear.
Or, in this case, Alec Burnett.
The Columbus East senior, after striking out the side in the fifth inning against East Central, was hit by a pitch in the sixth. So Burnett went out and struck out the side again in the sixth and again in the seventh, to finish off a one-hit, 13-strikeout performance in a 9-2 Shelbyville Sectional semifinal victory.
“I was a little cold to start the game and just kept getting hotter every inning,” Burnett said. “Then, we had some fireworks between teams, and that only boosted me even more. They threw four straight at me, and that only helped me more.”
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The Olympians (19-7) advance to Monday’s 6 p.m. sectional final, where it will meet the winner of Friday’s late game between Columbus North and Bloomington North.
Burnett moved up into the No. 2 spot in East’s pitching rotation because of a back injury to Julian Greenwell.
“(Burnett has) thrown some good ones for us, and he’s faced some good teams, too,” Gratz said. “He was as good as I’ve seen him those last three innings.”
Columbus East, thanks to leadoff doubles by Jonah Wichman and Nash Murphy, put runners on third with less than two out in the first and second innings, but couldn’t score. But in the third, they struck with three runs.
Josh Major led off the third with a walk, an Dalton Back was hit by a pitch. Major went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Drew Hasson. Cole Gilley then followed with a two-run homer to left-center.
“The first two innings, we left a couple of runners on base, and then we started tagging them up a little bit,” Gilley said. “We started hitting hard balls, either right to them or in the gap, getting base hits and moving runners. We just put some pressure on the pitcher, and then he got a little frustrated, and we just tagged it.”
Burnett singled leading off the fourth, and courtesy runner Ben Major went to second on a fly ball. With one out, Josh Major singled, scoring his little brother to make it 4-0.
The Trojans cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth. After a hit batter, a walk and a strikeout, Mitch Behrle lined East Central’s lone hit. One run scored on the hit, and a second came home on an error.
The Olympians regained control with five runs in the fifth. Hasson and Gilley led off with back-to-back doubles, and Gilley went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Gilley.
After walks to Parker Harrison and Burnett loaded the bases, Klayton Brummett was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Wichman then lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Harrison to make it 9-2.
After that, Burnett took over, striking out the final nine batters he faced.
“It took us a couple innings there for guys to adjust at the plate,” Gratz said. “When we get guys on, we have to take advantage of it, and we did later, so I can’t be unhappy with that.”
