Columbus North High School

May 20, 2023 - Through five innings, Mike Bodart’s Columbus North baseball team was down to Whiteland 2-0 and were frustrated but not discouraged. They were hitting the ball hard, but right at defenders. The only two runs they had allowed Whiteland to score were both due to defensive errors. Bodart had one message to his team. “Just keep doing what you’re doing and good things will happen. There is a lot of baseball yet to play.” The Bull Dogs responded with a six-run sixth inning, tacked on another run in the seventh, and beat Whiteland 7-2 to win the East Central Sectional title. Conner Hensley went the distance on the mound for the Bull Dogs, allowing two unearned runs on six hits while striking out four batters. Blake Osbourne and Dillon James each had two hits for North, and James had a pair of RBI. The decisive sixth inning started with leadoff batter Luke Harmon reaching on an error by Whiteland. He advanced to second after another throwing error following a line out by Tyler Blythe. Whiteland committed their third error of the inning when Hensley reached on a grounder, scoring Harmon. Zach McLean then singled to score Hensley, Osbourne and Trenton McClain each singled and Kyler Hashman walked following a Joey Fry strikeout. During Fry’s at-bat, courtesy runner Macario Mendez scored on a wild pitch. James then singled, scoring McCain and Osbourne. Harmon came back to the plate a second time in the inning and singled to score Hashman. The Dogs tacked on one insurance run in the seventh when courtesy runner (for Hensley who started the inning with a hit-by-pitch) Sam Perry worked his way around to score on a McCain fielder’s choice. The Dogs will face Center Grove in the Regional game at Jasper on June 3 at 3:00 pm.