Base: 4A #11 Brownsburg (home) run-rules North Central, 20-10

By E. Shawn Aylsworth

Managing Editor

BROWNSBURG – With temperatures in the 80s and winds gusting to at least half that number April 6 at Brownsburg, the Class 4A No. 11 host Bulldogs rolled to a 20-10, five-inning victory over North Central (Indianapolis) in an offensive monstrosity that featured seven home runs.

Three of the long balls came off the bat of Brownsburg first baseman Justin Hartnagel, who opened his senior season with two-run home runs in his first two at-bats in the game’s first two innings. Hartnagel added yet another two-run homer in the fifth as the Bulldogs went yard five times off three Panthers pitchers.

With the wind blowing straight out to center field throughout the contest – sometimes insanely hard, and if you don’t believe me just listen to it in the videos that accompany this story – it was really no surprise that so many hits left the yard. Still, 30 runs plated in less than five full innings is nothing less than bizarre.

Here’s a rundown of the insanely offensive opener for both schools:

• North Central, top of 1st: After junior center fielder Jordan Rhinehart reaches first to open the game off Brownsburg junior right-handed starting pitcher Ryan Rhodes, Rhinehart scores when senior shortstop Mel Skochdopole’s single gets past the left fielder. Rhinehart, who had moved to third on the error, scores when junior third baseman Joe Trennepohl smacks the first of the game’s seven home runs. McGowan escapes further damage despite a walk and a single when he gets a 6-4-3 double play and strikes out No. 7 hitter senior left fielder Cal Swarbrick looking.

• Brownsburg, bottom of 1st: Senior second baseman Ben Blystone starts the season in style for Brownsburg when he whacks a wind-aided double to right and advances to third – the proverbial double with cheese, thank you – when NC’s right fielder cannot corral the ball along the warning track after it bounces off the fence. After Rhodes grounds harmlessly to the pitcher, Hartnagel causes great harm in closing the gap to 3-2 with a shot just right of the BROWNSBURG BULLDOGS banners in center field. McGowan then flies out to right, but sophomore third baseman Isaac Sampen drills the first pitch off NC senior lefty starter Ethan Robinson just right of the giant scoreboard in left to tie it at 3. Robinson gets senior shortstop Joel Stucker looking, but the dye has been cast for the opposite of a defensive struggle.

• North Central, top of 2nd: Rhodes gets the first two Panthers hitters but walks the third, Rhinehart, who steals second before advancing to third via an error on Skochdopole’s grounder to short. Following a Brownsburg conference at the mound, McGowan’s first pitch is a wild one, allowing Rhinehart to score and Skochdopole to advance to second. The latter scores on Trennepohl’s soft liner to right, resulting in the removal of McGowan in favor of junior lefty Taylor Jones, who strikes out junior first baseman Jack Peck to end the damage at 5-3.

• Brownsburg, bottom of 2nd: So much for that lead as Brownsburg plates a half-dozen runs here by batting around to go up 9-5. After getting a 4-3 groundout, Robinson cannot overcome gusts in his face over 40 mph in walking senior catcher Cory Sears and junior Ted Kackowski … and this is the good news for him. After a wild pitch and walk to Blystone jams the sacks, Robinson diverts from a 2-0 plate delivery to sophomore David Oliger and instead throws wildly to first on a pick-off attempt, the ball rolling for what seems like forever into right field. Two runs score and Blystone moves to third, then scores to put the Bulldogs up for good at 6-5 on Oliger’s ripped single through the hole between short and third. (HARTNAGEL ALERT!!!) Hartnagel continues his career day with another two-run dong to the exact same spot in left center, making it 8-5 by merely poking at a low pitch and watching it sail well over the fence. After yet another walk, this one to McGowan, NC coach Andy Noble brings in junior righty Grant Link. But McGowan is his kryptonite, stealing second before advancing to third and then scoring on successive wild pitches. Link finally puts an end to the inning on a flyout, but the momentum, as they say, has shifted …

• North Central, top of 3rd: … and is beginning to set in gale-force, early April cement as the Panthers fail to score in their third try – the only of 10 plate visits by both squads not to result in runnage. Swarbrick does manage to reach third on a walk and two wild pitches by new Brownsburg junior righty Matt Bowman, and he’s joined on the base paths with a walk to freshman Mac Lozer. But each is stranded when Bowman catches sophomore catcher Ben Breymier’s pop-up for the third out.

• Brownsburg, bottom of 3rd: The Bulldogs conclude a relatively silent third inning by scoring but one run when Sears gets a one-out walk, is moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kackowski, and scores on Blystone’s single to center to make it 10-5 … and we’re halfway home to 30 runs!

• North Central, top of 4th: The Panthers rally to cut the gap to 10-9 with a four-run fourth, paced by a two-run homer to left center from Skochdopole after Rhinehart had walked to open the inning. That resulted in a pitching change for Brownsburg, which brought in McGowan to take over for Bowman. McGowan strikes out two of the first four hitters he faces, but the other two – Link and senior right fielder Devon Davis – reach on a single and walk, respectively, before moving up to third and second on a passed ball. Swarbrick then knocks them both in with a single up the middle that just makes it through the infield before McGowan whiffs Lozer to end the inning.

• Brownsburg, bottom of 4th: Hartnagel opens with a slow-roller infield single to third before Link is removed one ball into McGowan’s at-bat. McGowan responds to the first pitch he sees by stroking it down the line in right for an RBI triple. After a walk, Stucker slams a three-run homer to right to put the Bulldogs ahead 14-9. North Central gives up a one-out walk but escapes with no further damage.

• North Central, top of 5th: For the sake of space, we’ll shorten things up here the rest of the way. The Panthers plate one run when freshman Demetrius Webb singles to left, steals second, takes third on a throwing error by McGowan on a pick-off attempt at second, and scores on a wild pitch.

• Brownsburg, bottom of 5th: The Bulldogs send nine batters to the plate in the decisive fifth, with Hartnagel’s two-run homer just over the fence in right the damaging blow. The game ends with two outs when Blystone rips a single to the fence in right, scoring Kackowski after he had doubled in two runs with a shot to left center.

The Bulldogs rapped out 14 hits, led by the 4-for-4 exploits of Hartnagel. Stucker added a homer and a double, while Sampen homered and Blystone just missed the cycle with a single, double, and triple. McGowan got the win, giving up three hits and three runs in two innings while striking out six.

Skochdopole finished 3 for 4 with three runs scored and a homer for the Panthers, while Trennepohl went 2 for 4 with a home run.

Both teams are itching to go deeper into postseason play this year. Brownsburg, the 4A state champion in 2005, lost the Decatur Central Sectional final 2-1 to the host Hawks a year ago. North Central, meanwhile, was knocked off in the Lawrence North Sectional opener last year by Lawrence Central.

Brownsburg will get back in action April 9 with a first-round Hendricks County Tournament game at Plainfield. North Central, meanwhile, will travel to 3A No. 9 Mt. Vernon (Fortville) April 7.

The Bulldogs box score (thank you, Brownsburg coach Pat O’Neil!):

2B Blystone 3-4; double, triple, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 2 runs

P Rhodes 0-1

Jones

Bowman 0-1; K

PH Oliger 1-1; RBI single, run

Catron 0- 0; BB, run

1B Hartnagel 4-4; single, 3 home runs, 6 RBI; 4 runs

CF/P McGowan 1-3; triple, RBI, BB, K, SB

3B Sampen 1-3; HR, RBI, BB, K

SS Stucker 2-4; HR, 2B, 2 RBI, K

RF Owensby 0-3