SWIAC baseball on par with SWIAC basketball

Area baseball players in Owen Cox (Shakamak) left, Brett Sherrard (Bloomfield) and Luke McDonald (Linton) have all seen how competitive SWIAC teams were this season.

Earlier this year I wrote about the fierce competition between Linton, Bloomfield and North Daviess on the basketball court. After sectional baseball on Monday, now I wonder if baseball might be even better locally.

Teams like Bloomfield, Clay City and North Daviess have jumped into the top tier of the league with Linton and Shakamak.

Monday, I saw the disappointment for Linton, heard about the frustration for Bloomfield and could feel the joy Shakamak had for beating Clay City in the sectional final.

Linton and Shakamak both won regionals last year and Linton nearly went to state. Shakamak did go to state in 2021 and lost in semistate last year.

I’ll start with Shakamak, the Lakers had a good draw but they earned the sectional Monday. The Lakers played the regular season without one of its best hitters in Linden Jenkins and still found a way to compete through a tough schedule.

What strikes me about the Lakers is the size of its senior class every year. Some teams at small schools may just graduate two or three seniors a season. Shakamak has 10 seniors and had a large senior class when it went to state two years ago. That type of experience most postseasons makes the Lakers a tough out every May and June.

For Linton, the loss Monday to Mitchell in 11 innings was one of the top three toughest exits I have seen a Linton team take in my time here. Personally, the 7-6 defeat in the sectional semifinals was more traumatic than the loss in the state title game back for the basketball team a couple of months ago. Only the 28-27 loss the football team had to Evansville Mater-Dei in 2021 and last year’s 6-5 loss to Centerville in semistate really compares to it. Linton had so many chances to close Mitchell out and just couldn’t do it.

Mitchell was expected to win but there was Linton playing like a favorite for most of the game. They get confidence from their coach, Jacob Harden, and the fact that several big names from the program are playing in college and having success.

Linton baseball is currently the program with more college alumni than the basketball and football teams at the school and don’t expect that to change quickly.

Then there is Bloomfield, a team still searching for its first sectional since 1971. Monday could have been their day. Instead, it was a day of frustration. A call went against the Cardinals that prevented a run to tie the game. Bloomfield saw its best chance for a sectional end in a 1-0 defeat to another team SWIAC team in Clay City.

It will take some time but I hope the Cardinals can see what they have achieved the past three years. Bloomfield has gone from a team with little hope postseason success to a team you have to bring your best to beat.

Senior Brett Sherrard may have played his last game in a Bloomfield uniform but his college success at Butler University will be invaluable to the program. The Cardinals have seen quality baseball players in its youth program go to other schools. With Sherrard, Bloomfield can point to a player who came through its program and made it big. The momentum is there for Bloomfield to finally get that sectional in the coming years.

Coach Jarrod Holtsclaw spoke to me a few weeks ago about how talented SWIAC baseball has become.

“SWIAC basketball was really, really tough and I thought SWIAC baseball this year was going to be as tough or tougher and probably a little bit deeper. I think as the season has gone through that has borne out.”

Teams outside of the county in Clay City and North Daviess are programs that make SWIAC baseball deeper than what the basketball outlook has been. Eastern Greene has also made strides the past few seasons and I thought Coach Shelton kept his team inspired against favored opponents.

Only Shakamak is still playing in baseball but the SWIAC hotbed for baseball is going to be interesting the next few years.

Nathan Pace is the Sports Editor of the Greene County Daily and can be reached at npace@gcdailyworld.com. His “Low Budget Sports Show” airs weekly on Facebook Live.