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Eastern Greene, Bloomfield bow out at sectional
The results were anything but satisfying to Eastern Greene and Bloomfield following play in the IHSAA Class 2A Sectional 47 at Roy Herndon Field on Thursday night.
Both Greene County teams fell by identical scores of 11-1 in six innings.
The Thunderbirds fell victim to a revitalized North Knox team while the Cardinals were unable to produce any offense against North Central.
Reversal of fortune for T-Birds
In their meeting earlier in the year, the Eastern Greene Thunderbirds pounded the Warriors 14-0, but on Thursday night the Warriors did the pounding and the T-Birds did the chasing.
"You've got to credit their kids, they came out and put the pressure on us early," EGHS coach Trevor McConnell said. "I thought (Zak) Eckerle (starting pitcher for EGHS) started out really strong for us, then had some soreness that he's been trying to work through."
Eckerle along with Nathan Cobine and Carter Divine shared the work on the mound.
"We weren't real sharp on the mound, our ball to strike ratio wasn't very good," McConnell said. "They hit the ball and found the holes. We just never got out the gate offensively."
After scoring a first inning run off North Knox starter Tyler Sanders things quickly went sour.
Back-to-back singles by Jake Hash and Matthew Bays produced what would turn out to be the only EGHS run of the game.
From that point the offense that had so many times allowed Eastern Greene to stay close in their 15 wins and in many of their 13 losses, faded away almost as quickly as they appeared ready to be a factor.
After Hash crossed the dish Sanders settled in and cruised through the majority of the contest.
He fanned the five hitters he faced before allowing a single to Jake Johnson in the third and walking Hash.
Then it was another long string of outs as the righty retired the next seven in row.
"We've been able to win usually with one facet of our game or another," McConnell said. "But tonight it just didn't happen."
While Sanders and the North Knox defense was quelling any chance of an Eastern Greene comeback, the offense was firing on all cylinders.
The Warriors collected only a total of six hits, but they used them wisely. The plated an equalizing run in the second, four more in the third, two more in the fourth before dealing the final blow to the Thunderbirds season with four runs in the sixth to build a 10-run lead and end the contest.
"I just feel bad for our seniors to go out like that," McConnell said. "It's tough for them to go out on such a lackluster night for us."
NCHS digs the longball
The North Central Thunderbirds got a career night from Nolan Kinnett.
He drove in six runs, scored twice, walked twice and drilled a pair of homers -- including a grand slam -- to stagger the Cardinals.
Kinnett's first blast in the third inning turned a 1-0 game quickly into a 5-0 contest.
Things only worsened for the Cardinals who finish the year 3-21 as last year's Class A state runner-up added one more marker in the third, two in the fourth, one in the fifth and two more in the sixth.
Bloomfield's only offense came via the longball as well.
It was a solo blast by Jared Bond that spoiled the shutout bid by Thunderbirds pitchers Zack Lyday and Kinnett.
"Same kind of thing as it's been all season long," Bloomfield coach Jason Pegg said. "We didn't hit, routine plays we didn't make them."
He said the contest was a good example of when things go wrong for a team.
"If we hit the ball it might be a lot different game maybe if we put the ball in play a lot more," Pegg said. "You move on."
North Knox and North Central will now meet in the second semifinal in Monday's session of the tournament.
The day begins at 11 a.m. -- not 11:30 a.m. as indicated on season tickets sold by Linton-Stockton High School -- with the host Miners taking on the Sullivan Golden Arrows.
The second game will start approximately 30 minutes following the opener.
The championship game is set for 7:30 p.m. Monday.
IHSAA Class 2A Sectional 47
Opening round
Eastern Greene 100 000 -- 1 3 3
North Knox 014 204 -- 11 6 1
Game ended with two out in bottom of sixth
Eckerle, Cobine (3), Divine (5) and McCann; Sanders and Smith. W -- Sanders, L -- Eckerle. 2B -- McKinnon (NK). HR -- Lamb (NK), Smith (NK).
North Central 015 212 -- 11 8 0
Bloomfield 000 010 -- 1 5 3
Z. Lyday, Kinnett (5) and Johnson; Z. Query, Bond (6) and Abrams. W -- Lyday, L -- Query. 2B -- Z. Lyday (NC), Z. Query (B). HR -- Kinnett, 2 (NC), Bond (B).