Batesville leads the way for All-EIAC baseball selections
Jun. 21—Here are the Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference selections for baseball, listed in order by each team's regular season finish, with stats included for local players.
Batesville
Record: 11-3
Selections: Riley Zink, Trey Peters, Calvin Sherwood, Jack Grunkemeyer, Jacob Meer
Age didn't seem to be a factor to Grunkemeyer. The freshman led the Bulldogs with a .412 average in conference games. He hit .391 for the entire season, and shared team-high honors with seven doubles.
"And he did it in two less games than anybody else," Tucker said. "He started on JV, then he came up and just absolutely smashed the baseball for weeks and weeks throughout the entire season. Jack was well-deserved, for sure."
Zink was the runner-up in MVP voting, Tucker said, who congratulated East Central's Reid Cleary. Cleary led all players with a .538 batting average in league games.
"I also believe Riley would've been a great choice for that award as well," Tucker said.
Zink hit .325 on the year, and drove in a team-high 24 runs. Yet it was the senior's presence on the mound that garnered the most attention. He went 8-1 with a 1.83 ERA for the year.
"He carried us all season on the mound," Tucker said. "When he was on the mound, we knew it was basically an automatic W for us. He went undefeated in the conference (5-0) and had a 1.33 ERA during those conference games. He did an unbelievable job."
Sherwood, Batesville's leadoff hitter, led the team with a .396 average for the entire season. He stole nine bases in EIAC play to share the top spot, and was a team leader at shortstop.
"He absolutely killed it all year long," Tucker said. "He was Mr. Consistency."
Sherwood had a torn muscle in his rotator cuff the last three weeks of the season, but was able to find a way to play while under doctor's care.
"He was still able to come out and play shortstop and do a heck of a job," Tucker said.
Peters hit .370 in EIAC games. He scored 31 runs on the season, tying Sherwood for team-best honors.
Tucker spoke about how Peters made a tremendous transformation from his freshman year, when he was a starter on a sectional championship team, to his senior year, when the Dogs won another sectional title. Peters hit in the No. 2 spot and was very consistent.
"Most importantly though about Trey, he was able to provide us with some leadership emotionally," Tucker said. "He was always positive; he kept guys accountable in the right way, and really led us through the conference the entire year."
Meer is a player that surprised the coaching staff, Tucker said. They expected Sam Voegele and Riley Zink to be the top two pitchers. Voegele battled an elbow issue all year, and Meer stepped up nicely.
"Jacob stepped up into that No. 2 role and actually ended up with our second-best ERA," Tucker said.
Meer went 6-2 on the season with a 1.84 ERA. The junior right-hander shined in the semifinals of sectional when Batesville beat Franklin County 4-0.
"It didn't count as a conference game, but he definitely saved his last start of the season for his best one when he shut out Franklin County on a two-hitter," Tucker said.
Franklin County
Record: 10-4
Selections: Brant Ertel, Joe Fields, Garrett Ertel, Remy Watters
South Dearborn
Record: 9-5
Selections: Adam Kunkel, Reese Willoughby, Hunter Hatfield
East Central
Record: 9-5
Selections: Reid Cleary, Sam Bond, Sam Huston
Lawrenceburg
Record: 7-7
Selections: Ethan Weimer, Brayden York
Connersville
Record: 6-8
Selections: Chance Bentley, Braxton Myers
Rushville
Record: 2-12
Selection: Adam Sizemore
The junior hit. 323 for the Lions. Sizmore led the team with 22 runs, 14 RBIs and six doubles. He shared team-high honors with 20 hits, including one triple and one home run.
Sizemore also threw 19 2/3 innings, the second-most for Rushville.
Greensburg
Record: 2-12
Selection: Toby Brogan
Brogan batted .286 for the Pirates. The senior led the team with 17 RBIs, while smacking seven doubles, one triple and one home run.
The right-hander had the lowest ERA (3.44) for Greensburg while going 2-2 in seven appearances.
MVP
Reid Cleary, East Central
Coach of the Year
Justin Tucker, Batesville
Tucker also won the award in 2019, when the Dogs shared the EIAC title.
"It's an honor to win any award," Tucker said. "Credit goes to all the players in terms of the guys we had this year. These guys that were seniors continued to work hard to build the program through the three years that they actually got to play. So credit to them for getting us to this point, where we were 11-3 in the conference, ranked No. 5 in the state (in Class 3A) and had people watching Batesville baseball. And that's a credit to all those players."
Andy Scheidler may be contacted at 812-663-3111 ext. 217401 or andy.scheidler@greensburgdailynews.com.