In last week’s semistate, Columbus East faced a team from the bottom half of Indiana premier baseball conference.
Monday night, the Olympians will face the best that conference has to offer.
Hamilton Southeastern, which won the Hoosier Crossroads Conference for the first time in the league’s 19-year history, became the seventh different HCC team in those 19 years to reach the Class 4A state title game. The Olympians and Royals will meet at around 8:30 p.m. Monday at Victory Field in Indianapolis.
“I would put our Hoosier Crossroads Conference against any conference in the state of Indiana,” HSE coach Jeremy Sassanella said. “Maybe we end up with eight or 10 or 12 losses throughout the year, but with who we’re going to play down the tournament road, I think our schedule has prepared us well. You go through the gauntlet of our conference and some of the non-conference games we played, as well, I think it prepared us.”
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The Royals (22-8) finished 10-4 in the HCC. Avon, which the 4A No. 3 Olympians (25-4) beat 10-3 in the semistate, fell to HSE 13-4 and 9-4 in mid-April.
The teams have played a couple other common opponents. The Royals spilt with a Brownsburg team that handed East one of its four losses. And HSE posted a 3-2 win at Columbus North, a team that beat the Olympians during the regular season before East avenged that loss in the sectional final.
Jeremy Sassanella, a former major leaguer with the Detroit Tigers, is in his first year coaching at HSE after a year as an assistant and three years as head coach at Brebeuf Jesuit. The Braves and Royals were scheduled to play each other last year, but were rained out.
“When I took the (HSE) job, it didn’t take me long as we got into fall ball a little bit and I got to know the kids and the coachability and work ethic first and the skill sets, I got pretty excited,” Sassanella said.
Like the Olympians, the Royals have three Division I signees. Two of HSE’s commits are pitchers — right-hander Michael Dillon (Xavier) and right-hander Tyler Schweitzer (Ball State).
Dillon, who is 9-1 with a 2.01 ERA, is listed as the probable starter for Monday.
“They have two good pitchers,” East coach Jon Gratz said. “They have a couple guys in the lineup that can swing it pretty well. They’ll do some bunting, some hit-and-runs, that kind of stuff. We just have to be ready to come out and play well and do what we do.”
The Royals are led at the plate by senior first baseman Greyson Droste. The Akron recruit is batting .398 with 11 doubles, a home run and 25 RBIs.
HSE also has speed and hitting ability at the top and bottom of the lineup with leadoff batter and junior center fielder Cole DeWael (.341, 22 RBIs) and No. 9 hitter and senior right fielder Cam Bolling (.340, 13 RBIs).
“They have some good good hitters and some good guys on the mound,” East senior shortstop and leadoff batter Jonah Wichman said. “But I know our team, and I know we’re going to fight. We were down three runs with two out in the seventh (in the regional semifinal against Jeffersonville) and came out with the W. These guys put everything into this game every time they step onto the field.”
Wichman (.343, 20 RBIs), a South Carolina-Upstate recruit, is one of six Olympians in the lineup hitting better than .300. Senior right fielder Julian Greenwell, who is headed to Wright State, leads the way at .421 and also has four homers and 21 RBIs.
Junior catcher and Miami (Ohio) recruit Dalton Back is hitting .404 with team-highs of six homers and 35 RBIs. Junior pitcher-third baseman Cole Gilley (.347, 26 RBIs), sophomore designated hitter-pitcher Clayton Taylor (.339) and senior first baseman Nash Murphy (.304, 26 RBIs) also have been solid at the plate.
“It looks like they can really swing it, and Gilley can really throw,” Sassanella said. “They have some quality youth, it looks like. They have a very good ballclub. They’ve won 25 games, and we’re going to have to be at our best to compete with them.”
Gilley, who is 7-1 with a 2.11 ERA, will get the call for East again on Monday.
“My mindset is going to stay the same,” Gilley said. “I’m just going to attack the (strike) zone and attack the batters, get ahead of hitters. I’m going to try to just pound the zone and don’t get behind in counts and don’t walk people, because if I do that, there’s a better chance of them scoring. As long as get ahead of guys and get either weak pop flies or weak ground balls and get out of innings and get off the field with two outs, that’s my plan. My defense has been great all year long, so just use that to my advantage.”
Like the Royals, East will be playing in the state championship game for the first time. The Olympians made state tournament (Final Four) appearances in the one-class system in 1979, 1987 and 1989, but lost in the semifinals each time.
Gratz tried to keep his team in a familiar routine through practice last week.
“I told them Tuesday, ‘Not many times in high school athletics do you know that, this is your last week of practice.’ That’s it after Monday,” Gratz said. “I think a lot of them kind of realize that, but I don’t know that we’re practicing any differently. I think we’re trying to do the same things we’ve been doing all year — just keep working on the little things, keep working on fundamentals, trying to get better.”
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What: Class 4A baseball state final
Who: Columbus East (25-4) vs. Hamilton Southeastern (22-8)
When: 8:30 p.m. Monday (following 5:30 p.m. Class A final between University and Washington Township)
Where: Victory Field, Indianapolis
Admission: $10. Nine of East’s allotted 500 tickets remain and will go on sale Monday morning at the school. Tickets also will be available at the game.
TV: Fox Sports Indiana
Note: There will be a sendoff for the team from the baseball field parking lot across from Columbus East High School at 5:30 p.m. Monday. Fans can show up at 4:30 p.m. watch batting practice and to decorate and line up for the sendoff. Also, unless the game ends extremely late, there will be a celebration at the school when the team returns.
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