Blake Borkhardt
Trailing Jeffersonville 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning and rain and lighting quickly moving into the area, Blake Borkhardt took matters into his own hands.
The Columbus East senior left-hander clubbed a three-run homer to right-center to give the Olympians a 5-4 lead. East tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth before lightning became too close to continue playing, and 20 minutes later, the game was called.
“It was a big-time home run in a big-time spot there,” East coach Jon Gratz said.
Borkhardt’s blast came off Jeffersonville starter Caiden White.
“I’ve just been looking to stay up the middle,” Borkhardt said. “My swing was looking good today, and I was feeeling it today. I could put a good piece on it, and he threw me a hanging curveball like he always has, so I had a good swing on it. It got me pretty pumped. That was a big moment right there, and hopefully, there’s more to come.”
After each team scored a run in the second, the Olympians (2-6) took the lead in the fourth on an RBI-single by Evan Huckaby. The Red Devils (3-3) then scored three times in the top of the fifth to take a 4-2 lead.
“We got down early, came back, got down again, came back and then extended the lead there,” Gratz said. “I’m super proud of the guys and how resilient they’ve been. They keep working, and they’re getting better every day.”
Bige Asher and Jackson Watkins each went 2 for 3 with a double for East.
Eli Tindell, Jace Jones and AJ Tindell combined on a four-hitter. AJ Tindell pitched a perfect final 1 2/3 innings to earn the win.
“We’ve been playing better baseball the past few games, and we finally put it all together in all three phases today,” Gratz said. “It’s kind of been two out of three the last few games.”
The win snaps a four-game losing streak for the Olympians, who host Madison on Wednesday.
“That’s huge,” Borkhardt said. “Hopefully, that gets us going into the rest of this week.”
