GREENFIELD — When Mt. Vernon made the trip over to Greenfield-Central High School on Wednesday evening they were in a tie for first place in the Hoosier Heritage Conference.
A few hours later, they were able to head back home to Fortville with sole possession of the top spot.
With the team they were tied with —New Palestine — losing 5-2 to Pendleton Heights, the Marauders’ 3-2 win over the host Cougars gave them the top spot uncontested at 9-2 in conference play.
“We told the guys when we were 6-2 that we hold things in our hands. If we win out we at least get a share. We know New Pal is still going to be good and will play well, and we still have Greenfield again tomorrow. We take the lead tonight, but anything can happen tomorrow. [Landon] Brooks is pitching really well for those guys,” Mt. Vernon head coach Brad King said. “It’s nice to leave here with a win, and it’s nice to hear that news, but it means nothing if we come out and lay an egg tomorrow.”
The Cougars dropped to 9-8 overall and 6-5 in the HHC.
“We’re a team that can either play really good or we hurt ourselves. This is another situation of that, but we are that close to getting there,” Greenfield-Central head coach Mitch Gibson said. “We had a chance to win the ball game and that’s what you want. We had a runner on first base in the seventh and our best hitter right now, Brady Johnson, at the plate. He put the bat on the ball and the left fielder just made a great play.”
After a two-out walk by G-C’s Zander Cobb, the game ended on a diving catch by Mt. Vernon’s Gavin Joy in left field.
To go into the seventh ahead 3-2, it was the Marauders striking early, while the Cougars mounted a late comeback.
Josh James got things started immediately for the Marauders with a single to open the game. After stealing second, he was brought home by freshman Mason Meyer.
James scored his second run of the game and Meyer picked up two more RBI in the third inning.
Another single to lead off the inning and two more stolen bases by James moved him to third, and a walk and steal of second by Nathan Criss put two runners in scoring for Meyer who laced a double down the right field line.
On the night, Mt. Vernon had nine stolen bases.
“We run the bases most nights and try to put as much pressure as we can on the other team. We’ll get thrown out sometimes but I tell the guys to not be afraid. The last thing you can do as a baserunner is be afraid to make plays because then you become passive,” King said. “We want to be aggressive, and even though we got thrown out a few times we’ll take that percentage any night.”
Along with the two hits, Meyer was hit by a pitch in the seventh to reach base in three of his four at-bats.
“If it wasn’t for Mason’s offense we aren’t where we were,” King said. “He had an outstanding night at the plate, and he’s done that all year long. That’s what we expect out of him and that’s why he’s in the three spot as a freshman. He can hit.”
The Cougars two runs came in the sixth with the help of two Mt. Vernon errors. With two outs, consecutive errors on ground balls allowed Johnson and Cooper Safford to score for Greenfield-Central. Johnson led off the inning with a bunt single for his second hit of the night.
“There’s a lot of young guys contributing and our approaches at the plate are a lot more controlled,” Gibson said. “The guys have an idea of what they’re hunting for, rather than just free swinging. We’ve gotten a lot better and to do that against a draft-eligible pitcher is good to see.”
Despite the two runs, the Cougars had chances to score nearly every inning.
In the first they stranded runners at second and third base, in the second left a runner at second base, in the third made the final out of the inning at second base after their second hit of the inning, in the fourth left a runner at second once again, in the fifth stranded a guy at third, and in the seventh left the tying run on base.
For the first six innings, that was off of one of the top pitchers in the state — Cam Sullivan.
“I’ve gotten the pleasure of coaching Cam over the summer the past two years. He’s just a good ball player and a one-of-a-kind pitcher,” Gibson said. “Our guys handled him well and we gave ourselves chances. We left 11 runners on base and to do that against a guy like him that’s pretty good stuff.”
With a number of major league, and college, scouts in attendance, Sullivan, a Notre Dame signee, threw six innings, allowed two unearned runs, six hits and struck out seven. Over 25.1 innings of work this season, Sullivan has allowed just one earned run and has struck out 41. To close the game out, Mt. Vernon’s Andrew Boldt shut things down like he has done all season.
“I just can’t say enough about our entire staff. Cam is obviously the face of our pitching and there’s all these people here to watch him and he’s done an outstanding job,” King said. “Tonight is seven innings with no earned runs so our ERA went down again. Boldt just has ice water in his veins. He comes out and is never afraid of the situation.”
On the mound for the Cougars was another guy the scouts were there to watch — Parker Rhodes — and he impressed as well.
Over five innings of work, the Xavier commitment allowed five hits, three runs and struck out 11. In 27 innings of work this season he has struck out 61 batters.
“My goal for tonight was to get Parker a good amount of innings. Last start he had some inflammation in his hip flexor a bit still, so we only threw him a few innings,” Gibson said. “This was the first time he had thrown 80 or 90 pitches in a while, and wasn’t trying to overpower and do too much, but he still threw well.”
The two teams will finish off the series Thursday at 6 p.m. at Mt. Vernon.
–
Mt. Vernon 3, Greenfield-Central 2
Mt. Vernon (13-5, 9-2);102;000;0; — ;3;5;3
Greenfield-Central (9-8, 6-5);000;002;0; — ;2;6;3;
Cam Sullivan, Andrew Boldt (7) and Grant Payson; Parker Rhodes, Gavin Markus (6) and Zander Cobb. 2B: MV – Mason Meyer, Grant Payson. G-C – Kirk Knecht. WP: Sullivan (2-1) LP: Rhodes (2-3).
