The last time Columbus East sophomore Kaden Wise took the mound before Friday, he gave up five runs in the first inning in a loss to Columbus North.
This time, Wise was on top of his game from the beginning. He did not allow a hit until the fourth inning and finished with a three-hitter to lead the Class 4A No. 3 Olympians to a 3-0 win against Jennings County in the fifth-place game of the Hoosier Hills Conference Tournament.
“It feels good to bounce back from a game like that,” Wise said. “You never really want that to happen, but it just happens, so it’s really good to put up gooseggs across the board this game. I started off really well and had a lot of energy. My defense was very good behind me through the game. My stuff was moving, and I felt like I could command my fastball and all my offspeed stuff.”
Wise needed to throw only 73 pitches. He struck out nine and did not walk a batter.
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“Kaden’s done a nice job all year,” East coach Jon Gratz said. “He’s started a lot of games and won a lot of games for us. He had his good stuff today. His fastball and curveball and slider all looked really good today, and that’s the kind of pitcher he can be.”
Wise, a left-hander who began the year as the Olympians’ No. 3 pitcher, has been pressed into more extensive duty since an elbow injury to senior Julian Greenwell. East’s other ace, junior right-hander Cole Gilley, injured his left shoulder in the North game, but came back to pitch nine innings in Monday’s first-round HHC loss at Floyd Central before sitting out Wednesday’s win against Madison and Friday’s victory.
“It doesn’t really add weight to me,” Wise said. “It just shows me that I have to show up better and pitch more games better and be ready.”
The Olympians (15-4) gave Wise all the runs he would need when they scored twice in the second inning. Nash Murphy led off with a single, went to second on a one-out singe by Clayton Taylor and took third when Ben Major reached on a fielder’s choice. After Harry Major walked to load the bases, Jonah Wichman delivered a two-out, two-run double.
East’s third run came in the fifth. Wichman led off with a single and stole second. Affer Dalton Back walked, and both runners moved up on a wild pitch, Julian Greenwell lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score Wichman.
Wichman and Murphy each finished 2 for 3 with a double for the Olympians.
“We had some good at bats,” Gratz said. “We hit the ball hard at them a few times. When they’re kind of throwing offspeed, we were going with the outside pitch. They threw us a lot of offspeed stuff, and I thought we did a nice job adjusting to that.”
Duncan Rowda had two of the Panthers, three hits, going 2 for 3.
Jennings (5-10), meanwhile, had solid pitching performances from a pair of freshman. Jacob Vogel, allowed six hits in four-plus innings, and Carson McNulty retired all six batters he faced.
“They have done a great job all season,” Jennings coach Trent Hardisty said. “That’s been our M.O. We can pitch it, and we can play some defense, but offensively, we’ve struggled all season long.”
