Columbus East baseball fans helped Josh Major celebrate Wednesday by singing “Happy Birthday” immediately following the Olympians’ fourth consecutive win — a 5-1 victory against Brownsburg.
“It was a great birthday present,” Major said. “I’m just glad we got the win as a team on my birthday. It felt really good.”
The Bulldogs were the first to score, getting their only run in the first inning and held a 1-0 lead for much of the game. East outhit Brownsburg 5-4 in the first four innings, but couldn’t turn any of those hits into runs.
It wasn’t until the fifth inning when the Olympians (4-2) started to take control. Major got on base on error on his sacrifice bunt that allowed Alec Burnett to score to tie the game. East scored three more runs to cap off the four-run inning.
“We got a couple hits there and picked up our intensity a little bit,” East coach Jon Gratz said of the fifth inning. “It seemed like we were a little flat at the plate. We were hitting the ball hard right at guys, but we weren’t really getting anything going.”
Drew Hasson, who went 2 for 3, followed Major’s sacrifice bunt with a two-run single that pushed the lead to 3-1. Dalton Back scored the fourth run of the fifth with another RBI-single.
Back went 2 for 2 and got on base with a double in the fourth. Alec Burnett, who also went 2 for 2, pushed the lead even further with an RBI-triple in the sixth.
Pitcher Julian Greenwell closed the game with two consecutive strikeouts and a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to finish with three strikeouts and one hit with a walk the final two innings. Hasson pitched the first five innings and had seven strikeouts and five walks, while giving up six hits.
The Olympians had nine hits against three Brownsburg pitchers.
“I thought I hit the ball well today, and then I was getting outs and my teammates were making plays behind me,” Hasson said. “I didn’t have my best command today, but we still got the job done as a team.”
East will play a makeup game at 5:30 p.m. today at home against Madison. The Olympians’ Saturday doubleheader has been moved from East to Mooresville and will begin at 11 a.m.
