Columbus East’s Josh Luedeke, right, records an out at first against Jennings County’s Sam Burkman Thursday April 28, 2022 at Columbus East.
The Republic file photo
The Columbus East baseball and boys golf teams are still playing this week, thanks in large part to the efforts of the Luedeke brothers.
On Friday, sophomore Ben Luedeke came through with a career-best round of 80 to lead the Olympian golfers to a third-place finish in the Greensburg Sectional. East edged North Decatur by one shot for the third-and-final qualifying spot to Thursday’s Providence Regional.
Then on Saturday, the Olympian baseball team trailed New Albany 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth when senior Josh Luedeke smacked a game-tying two-run homer. East went on to post a 3-2 win to advance to Saturday’s semistate against Cathedral at Mooresville.
“It was a good weekend for the Luedeke family,” East baseball coach Jon Gratz said.
The home run was Josh’s first of the season.
“I feel like we all had good preparation in practice, and we all came to play, so I feel like in that game, that hit really sparked everyone and gave us energy,” Josh said.
“Josh is a guy we like having up there in big situations,” Gratz added. “He’s hit either 3- or 4-hole about every game for the last two years. He started off a little slow this year. He had a wrist injury right before the season, but he’s really picked it up as of late and hitting a lot more like he’s capable of.”
Josh Luedeke
For the season, Josh is hitting .279. He is second on the team with six doubles and 22 RBIs.
“My numbers may show I had a better season last year, but I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball good all year and making solid contact. I’m happy with how this season has been going, and the postseason has been really good for me and everyone, so I’m just happy to continue this roll we’re on.”
His younger brother, meanwhile, got on a little bit of a roll himself on Friday. He played the steadiest round of his career.
“He didn’t have any big numbers,” East boys golf coach Keith VanDeventer said. “Sometimes, big numbers can creep into all of our games, but bogey was his worst on that day. He chipped and putted very well.”
“I think my putting was really pretty poor before that,” Ben added. “I’ve really been working on my putting. I think in the last couple of weeks, my ball striking has gotten a lot better. I’ve been getting better just in my preparation going into sectional. I think mentally, I had my head in there and made the right decisions and played smart golf.”
Like Josh, Ben grew up playing baseball and football. Ben switched to golf in third grade, but then gave up that sport to focus on football.
Ben Luedeke
Ben played football as a freshman at East, but then had to have back surgery in January 2021. He was forced to give up that sport, so he returned to golf this spring.
“It was pretty tough since I had played (football) since first grade,” Ben said. “It’s been the only sport I played basically my whole life. It was pretty challenging to make the decision to have to give up football.”
But even though he hasn’t been one of the Olympians’ top scorers most of the season, Ben has been playing better as the season has progressed.
“He’s worked very hard and takes it very serious, and results are starting to show for him at times,” VanDeventer said. “He just continues to improve. We sometimes leave him down there in the 4 or 5 spot in the lineup. We tell all the kids in doesn’t matter where you’re at in the lineup, as long as you’re in the lineup.”
The Olympians won’t be one of the favorites to capture one of the three team-qualifying spots to state on Thursday at Champions Pointe in Henryville, but they will look to better their season-best team score of 334.
“We just want to shoot a good round and improve as a team,” Ben said. “There’s so many good teams there. I think if the team just goes down there with the mindset of everyone trying to improve and shoot a good round as preparation for the years to come, we can move forward.”
Josh, who likely is headed to play baseball at IUPUC, hopes to extend his high school career for another week. East lost to Cathedral 11-5 on April 5 at Grand Park in Westfield.
“We faced them earlier in the season, and we had some errors and mental mistakes,” Josh said. “But we hung with them most of the game, and little things, we didn’t do. We’re playing a lot better now, so we have a good chance to win Saturday.”
