Columbus North’s Zach McLean (25) is congratulated by his teammates after hitting a home run against Bloomington South Wednesday at Southside Elementary School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Columbus North almost let Wednesday’s baseball game slip away.
The Class 4A No. 6 Bull Dogs allowed one run in the top of the seventh inning. It could have gotten away from them, but several great stops from catcher Sam Perry prevented several balls from hitting the backstop, and North held on by the thread of a needle for a 3-2 win over Bloomington South to set up a showdown with Terre Haute South on Saturday for the Conference Indiana title.
Bull Dogs starter Blake Osbourne earned the win on the mound, going six innings and allowing one run on four hits and seven strikeouts. Joey Fry finished out the final inning, allowing one run on one hit.
“Blake did a real good job. It was good for him to get a good solid outing,” North coach Mike Bodart said. “He hit his spots really well, and we wanted to go to Joey for the actual save situation. I wanted to get Joey in that situation and see how he would handle it. Sam was been catching his rear end off all season for us. He’s gritty enough to keep on doing it, and we’re going to keep on appreciating what Sam does back there.”
North (15-4, 3-1) struck first on the scoreboard when Connor Hensley singled. Two batters later, Hensley scored from a base hit from Brock Kintner for the 1-0 lead.
The Panthers tied it in the top of the third when Lucas Waldon singled and scored on a Connor Osborne single two batters later.
The Bull Dogs took the lead for good when Zach McLean blasted a home run to left field in the fourth. Perry singled in the next at-bat and later scored on a single from Lane Schrader for the 3-1 lead.
In the top of the seventh, Bloomington South got the lead runner on by a walk. A fielder’s choice kept a runner on first with one out. A single to right by Ben Ridner put runners at the corners. A wild pitch scored one run. A walk and a stolen base then put runners on second and third with two out after a flyout to right. The final batter chopped it to McLean, who made the easy grab to seal the win.
“It was a big win. Obviously, the seventh inning got a little bit rocky, but we wouldn’t have put Joey out there and put him in that situation if we didn’t have full confidence in him,” Osbourne said. “Everything felt good for me, overall. My plan was to get ahead of batters and throw a lot of strikes early and then switch things up and make them adjust.Throwing that first strike and getting that first guy out, obviously, is a great start.”
Hensley, who moved into the leadoff spot, was 3 for 3 at the plate for North, McLean was 2 for 3 with a home run.
