Eli Tindall
After giving up 61 runs in their previous seven baseball games, Columbus East was due for a good pitching performance.
The Olympians got one Tuesday evening. Eli Tindell and Blake Borkhardt combined to keep Batesville in check for most of the game, and East was able to pull out a 3-2 victory.
“We had a great pitching performance today from Eli and Blake,” East coach Jon Gratz said. “Eli has been really good for us lately. He’s been a kid that has great stuff, and when he puts it together, which he’s starting to put it together now, he can be a really good pitcher. Then, Blake did a good job in relief throwing three shutout innings.”
The Olympians (6-13) got on the board in the first inning on a double by Borkhardt and a single by Evan Balzer. The Bulldogs took the lead with a pair of runs off Tindell in the fourth.
East then tied the game when it scored on an error in the bottom of the fifth. Borkhart knocked in the winning run with an RBI-single in the sixth.
“We still left the bases loaded twice,” Gratz said. “We’d obviously like to extend that lead a little more. But it was a very well-played game.”
Borkhardt went 2 for 4 to lead the Olympians’ seven-hit attack at the plate.
Tindell allowed two runs and six hits over four innings, and Borkhardt gave up just one hit over the final three innings. The combined for eight strikeouts and only one walk.
“I just had to battle and did my job,” Tindell said. “I think we have potential. We just have to lock in and show what we’ve worked on and play as a team.”
East now is off the next two days before playing at crosstown rival and Class 4A co-No. 5 Columbus North on Friday.
“We try to just go one-game-at-a-time, so we were just worried about today, and now we’re ready to roll,” Gratz said. “We have two practices, and then we’ll be ready to roll Friday and then into conference.”
