Columbus East graduate and Wright State sophomore Julian Greenwell heads to first base during a game this season.
Submitted photo
Missy Borkhardt has a little bit of a dilemma this weekend.
One of her sons, Julian Greenwell, will be playing baseball for Wright State in the NCAA Regional in Blacksburg, Virginia, beginning today. On Saturday, her younger son, Blake Borkhardt, will be playing for Columbus East in the IHSAA Regional at Jasper.
“It’s been a great year for baseball for us,” Missy said. “I’m just so proud of them. They work so hard. Julian has had a great year. Blake has had a great year, and getting to play varsity as a sophomore, we didn’t expect that.”
While Missy would like to see both of her sons play, she realizes she won’t be able to be in two places at once. So because of her administrative role with the Olympians team, she is headed to Jasper.
“I’m the baseball president for East baseball, so there’s so much I have to do, I feel like,” she said. “It’s a busy, busy time, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Missy Borkhardt
As team president, Missy is in charge of concessions at home games, making sure the team has food after road games and answering questions from other parents or relaying them to coach Jon Gratz. She also ordered sectional championship shirts following Monday’s win at Bloomington South.
Missy helped with concessions when Julian was playing at East.
“I love it,” she said. “It’s been our life since Julian started playing, so 17 years.”
A day after watching Blake play for East in Bloomington, Missy was able to make it to Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday to watch Julian help Wright State rout Oakland 24-0 for the Horizon League title. Julian, a junior, went 2 for 6 with an RBI in that contest.
Julian is third on the team with a .315 batting average 51 runs scored and fourth with eight home runs and 48 RBIs. He leads the Raiders with five triples and is tied for second with 15 doubles.
Prior to this season, Julian had been both a pitcher and hitter, but underwent Tommy John Surgery last summer and hasn’t been able to pitch this season.
“I feel like I’ve had a great year at the plate,” he said. “I’ve been able to produce, and it’s good just being able to focus on hitting. I’m not sure I’ll ever get back on the mound, but right now, I’m just focused on doing what I can do to help the team.”
Wright State faces a tough matchup in No. 2-ranked Virginia Tech in today’s 7 p.m. opener. The Raiders, however, did play the Hokies in Blacksburg in early March and came away with one win in the three-game series.
“We’ve been to Blacksburg before, so we’re familiar with the area, with the environment,” Julian said. “It’s an exciting time for the program. Winning a regional is something the program has never done, and we’d like to be the first to do it.”
East, meanwhile, will be seeking its second regional title in the past three tournaments. Julian was MVP of the 2019 team that finished as Class 4A state runner-up.
Blake Borkhardt
Blake, who had just finished his seventh-grade year, remembers sitting in the stands and watching. More recently, he’s been able to hit and work out with Julian.
“We would always go to hit together when he was home from college,” Blake said. “He’s helped me out a ton with my swing, pitching, throwing, everything.”
“Me and Blake would go to Hit Factory pretty often,” Julian added. “I’m super proud of him and all the work he’s put in. He’s had a great year, and he’s worked super hard for it. He’s really humble. I’m super happy for it, and I hope East can keep winning.”
Blake, who plays first base and designated hitter, leads the Olympians with a .354 average, six homers and 24 RBIs. His home run total os one off Greg Hensley’s single-season school record.
“I don’t think I’m surprised at all,” Julian said. “I’ve always known he’s capable of this. He’s already bigger than I am, and he’s put in the work.”
East will face 4A No. 2 Mooresville in the regional semifinals at around 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Missy will be there, phone in hand, keeping up with Julian in Wright State’s second game of its regional.
“I’m able to stream all of his games on ESPN3, so I usually have Julian’s games on at Blake’s games,” she said.
If the Olympians win Saturday afternoon, they would face host Jasper or New Albany in the regional final at 7 p.m. East won’t be the favorite to win the regional, but then again, it wasn’t supposed to win the sectional either.
“All the seniors, I’m really good friends with all of them, and I didn’t want the season to end early with them,” Blake said.
