Ethan Ianni
Errors, errors, and more errors.
That was the story in Monday’s opening round of the Hoosier Hills Conference tournament between Columbus East and Jeffersonville.
The difference was that the Olympians committed less errors.
Ten of the 12 total runs in the game were unearned runs, and East was able to come away with a 7-5 win.
The Olympians now move on to face Jennings County on Wednesday in the semifinal game at Jennings.
All of the Red Devils five runs in the game were unearned.
“We shot ourselves in the foot there. Not a single run was earned. We were shooting ourselves in the foot, but we came back out and flushed that and scored some runs and hits and played defense,” East coach Jon Gratz said. “That’s what good teams do. We have a chance to be a really good team. We’re getting better as the year has progressed. Our pitching is coming along. Offensively, I feel really good about were we’re at right now. We’ve seen a lot of good pitching throughout the year, and that’s really helped us now at this point getting into these tournament style games.”
Blake Borkhardt
The Olympians (8-10-1) struck first in the bottom of the first when Will Rieckers reached base on an error and went to second on a wild throw to first. Josh Luedeke hit an RBI-single to put East on the board at 1-0. Blake Borkhardt then smacked a two-run home run to right field to give the Olympians a 3-0 lead.
East then committed two costly errors that led to four runs for the Red Devils, who took a 4-3 after two innings. Jeffersonville added another run in the top of the third off an error to lead 5-3.
The Olympians then added two runs in the bottom of the third thanks to two Red Devil errors to tie the game at 5-5. East took advantage of more Jeffersonville errors to add additional runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings.
“It was taking a deep breath and relaxing and flushing out what happened and moving on,” Gratz said. “You’ve got to have a short memory in this game because errors happen, and you’ve got to be able to move on and play the next pitch.”
Ethan Ianni scored the win for East on the mound, allowing five unearned runs, five hits and seven strikeouts. Will Boyer pitched the final two innings, allowing one hit.
Borkhardt was 1 for 3 with a home run, and Ianni was 1 for 3 with a double.
