IHSAA baseball: Missing element costs Bloomington North in sectional opener

It was an all-too-familiar sight for Bloomington North baseball coach Richard Hurt. All season, it seemed that one part of the game was missing when the others were clicking.

The Cougars had the pitching they needed but miscues elsewhere, on defense, on the base paths, and lack of execution on offense ended their season.

All the runs came in the sixth inning and Columbus East had more of them in a 2-1 win in the semifinals of the Class 4A Bloomington South Sectional late Friday night.

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"We've been working on that for the past four days," Hurt said. "I said, guys, almost every single game in our sectional is close. You look at the past years, one run here, two runs there.

"Every play is important. We worked on it and didn't get it done in the crucial moments."

The Olympians (12-16) will take on Bloomington South, a 12-2 winner over East Central, in the final on Monday at 6 p.m.

Wrong end of pitchers' duel

North's Caden McCoy struck out 13 and kept Columbus East off the board for five innings despite playing with fire more than once. The sophomore lefty had to work a lot harder than his counterpart, senior Ethan Ianni, to keep the game scoreless.

McCoy (2-5) stranded six runners, four in scoring position while walking three and giving up five bases on passed balls and wild pitches.

"Caden's done that all year long," Hurt said. "He's pitched well enough to win, but we just don't have the offense or make the plays to get him the win. So we're disappointed in that.

"Caden being a sophomore, he's got a lot of room to grow. His pitch count (116 on Friday) seems to be high all the time, so he's got to put away hitters a bit quicker. But he's got a bright future."

Ianni steals the show

Meanwhile, Ianni cruised through his first five innings with 20 fewer pitches. North never had more than one runner on at a time and two were erased, one on a double play and another caught trying to steal.

The Cougars had eight hits but the sixth inning was the only time they had more than one.

In the bottom of the seventh, North had the tying and winning runs at first and second after a single, strikeout, fielder's choice and an error. But Ianni's 11th K was the clincher.

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Ianni walked no one and worked safely around two of the three errors behind him.

"He's a very good high school pitcher," Hurt said. "He has enough velocity to make it tough on you. Nice slider. Decent change.

"So you have to step up there and put the ball in play. That's where I was really disappointed tonight. We had several opportunities and did not either get the bunt down or put the ball in play or put pressure on the defense. Couple base running mistakes. Games like this, you have to step up and make those plays."

Turning point

A single and walk started a Columbus East rally in the top of the sixth with McCoy reaching the 100-pitch mark.

He fielded a bunt attempt and threw badly to first for an error, but first baseman Dylan Barrow recovered the throw and ran down a baserunner between second and third for an out.

But McCoy would not escape this time, as Chase Zapke blistered a ball to the wall in left for a triple and a 2-0 lead before McCoy's 13th K ended his day.

North started to answer in the bottom half with a one-out single by Will Eads. Barrow hammered a line drive to left that bounced off the wall and right to Ty Uphaus, who started a 7-6-5 pickoff of Eads as he slid late into third.

An error at third put runners at the corners before Lucas Alexander had a two-out RBI single. But Cole Grupenhoff could not beat out a bunt for a hit.

"We threatened at the end, but you have to do more than threaten to win the game," Hurt said.

On to next year

North graduates two seniors and just one starter in Aidan Murphy, so there's a chance to give it another run next year. But Hurt had hoped to get a bit more out of this squad that finishes 13-11.

"I think we underperformed a good deal of the year," Hurt said. "You look at our record the last half and it was good. But it seemed like we were always off a little bit. Never did come together and play good baseball for a long string.

"That really separates teams. We were always kind of back and forth. Inconsistency is definitely what we saw this year."

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A team dominated by sophomores and juniors will be looking to rid itself of that before next year.

"Yes, we are young, but that doesn't matter," Hurt said. "If you're good, win the games.

"We got a lot of guys coming back, but we're going to miss our seniors. I thought Aidan Murphy did an outstanding job there at the end hitting the baseball and giving us a chance. Wyatt Fleener has thrown a lot of innings for us this year. So those guys did a real nice job for us."

But in the end, the season is over.

"Sometimes lessons are hard," Hurt said. "This is a hard lesson."

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: IHSAA baseball: Missing element costs Bloomington North in sectional opener