Columbus East’s Will Rieckers (4) and Harry Major chest-bump at home plate after scoring during Monday’s Sectional Championship game at Bloomington South High School.
The Republic file photo
After an 11-16-1 regular season, Columbus East wasn’t one of the favorites to win the baseball sectional at Bloomington South.
But the Olympians had a first-round bye and were able to post one-run victories against Bloomington North and Bloomington South to capture their third sectional title in the past four tournaments. Now, they’ll try to pull a couple more upsets and win Saturday’s Jasper Regional.
“We want to be playing our best baseball this time of year, and we’re playing pretty well right now,” East coach Jon Gratz said. “It’s our goal to win every game in the tournament. We’re 2-0 right now and hoping to become 3-0.”
The Olympians, now 13-16-1 played a rigorous regular-season schedule to get them ready for the postseason.
“No matter what your record is, nothing is ever guaranteed in the tournament,” Gratz said. “I thought we were a lot better than what our record showed. We play a tough schedule. We tried to be smart with what we do with our pitching staff so they’re ready to go into the tournament. It wasn’t unexpected. We know if we come out and compete well and play clean baseball, we can compete with anybody.”
The rise in competition will be steep from the sectional to the regional. East faces Class 4A No. 2 Mooresville (27-3), which upset No. 1 Center Grove in the sectional, in the regional semifinals at around 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Jasper’s Ruxer Field.
The Pioneers’ pitching ace is sophomore Hogan Denny, who is 6-0, with an 0.36 ERA. Senior Nick Wiley is 7-0 with a 1.80 ERA, and sophomore Brendin Oliver is 5.1 with a 3.00 ERA.
Wiley (.479, 13 HR, 15 RBIs) and Denny (.419, 10 HR, 29 RBIs) are Mooresville’s top hitters.
“They’re a really good team,” Gratz said. “They have some really good players. I was expecting more than likely one of those two, and they had the better game when they played Center Grove.”
If the Olympians can pull the upset, they would face the winner of the 11 a.m. semifinal between No. 8 Jasper (26-4) and New Albany (19-4) in the 7 p.m. regional final.
“As you get farther in the tournament, you’re going to face really good teams,” Gratz said. “There’s a reason we play the schedule we play during the season. We see good pitching. Our pitchers see good hitters. It prepares us for seeing a really good team this weekend.”
Senior Ethan Ianni (5-3, 2.40 ERA) likely will get the start for East against Mooresville. Will Boyer (3-4, 3.16 ERA) would be the likely starter if the Olympians would reach the final.
Sophomore first baseman/designated hitter Blake Borkhardt (.354, six HR, 24 RBIs) leads the Olympians at the plate. Other top hitters are senior shortstop Harry Major (.333, 13 RBIs), senior second baseman Will Rieckers (.320, 11 RBIs) and senior first baseman Josh Luedeke (.279, 22 RBIs).
East could get a big boost from the return of senior center fielder Logan Christophel. Christophel, who was batting .448 with 13 RBIs before breaking his wrist early in the season, has been practicing and was cleared on Wednesday to return to action.
“He’s just been waiting and waiting to be cleared,” Gratz said. “I think when he got hurt, it was tough for him. We’re all excited to get him back on the field, and I know he’s excited to be back.”
