Batesville the top ‘dog’ at Class 3A Sectional 29
PHOTO COURTESY OF RICH FOWLER
A Bull’dog’ pile ensued after Batesville recorded the final out in Monday’s Class 3A Sectional 29 Championship win over rival Greensburg.
Batesville baseball spent three days knocking off three contenders inside the field and in doing so captured the Class 3A Sectional 29 Championship at Lawrenceburg on Monday night.
The Bulldogs defeated Greensburg 6-2 in the championship game, claiming their first title since 2021. It was the first for second-year head coach Tyler Burcham.
It was all about early inning runs the entire sectional tournament for Batesville and that included the championship game where the Dogs scored a run in the bottom of the first inning and two runs in the bottom of the second to take a 3-1 lead that never went by the wayside. Greensburg trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the fourth but the Bulldogs responded with two runs that same frame and a run in the bottom of the fifth to keep the Pirates at-bay for the remainder of the evening.
Batesville put together 11 hits in the title tilt. Chris Lewis was a perfect 4-for-4 and was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. Lewis used two singles, a double and a triple to drive in four runs and score once. Carter Bohman went 3-for-3, Jack Grunkemeyer hit two singles with an RBI and run and Brayden Maple went 1-for-3 with a double, RBI and run. Conner Drake added the final hit for the Bulldogs.
Bohman, Lewis and Grunkemeyer combined to piece together the pitching on Monday. Bohman’s two innings saw him surrender an unearned run on two hits with a walk and a strikeout. Lewis relieved him for two frames and got the win, giving up an unearned run on three hits with three strikeouts and Grunkemeyer finished things off in the final three innings, allowing just a hit.
Batesville used identical 7-1 final scores to knock off Lawrenceburg and Franklin County on Thursday and Saturday respectively.
Grunkemeyer struck out nine and allowed just an unearned run on four hits through six innings in a dominant win over the Tigers. Lewis went 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs and Maple was 2-for-3 with a run and RBI. Grunkemeyer, Carson Schneider and Dane Dudley each drove in a run on a hit.
Against Franklin County, it was Eli Loichinger’s turn to dominate on the mound as part of a stellar complete game performance. Loichinger gave up an unearned run on four hits in seven innings with 11 strikeouts against just one walk. He added a double, RBI and run scored to his evening.
Schneider went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI and Dudley added a single and double with two runs and an RBI. Alex Krekeler went 2-for-2 with a run and RBI.
Batesville (19-9) faces defending state champion Silver Creek (23-8) in the Class 3A Regional Championship on Saturday. A time and location for that title game had not been announced by time of print.
