GREENFIELD — The Greenfield-Central offense took a few innings to get going Tuesday night.
With the way Brady Mundell was pitching and the Cougars were playing defense behind him, the slow start offensively didn’t matter.
Mundell kept visiting Connersville off balance for five innings, striking out nine while walking one and allowing just two hits. When he left the mound after the top of the fifth, his team was ahead by just one run.
That was more than enough.
The Cougars added three runs in the bottom of the fifth and another in the sixth. Relief pitcher Thomas Fralich picked up where Mundell left off, and Greenfield-Central topped visiting Connersville, 5-0.
“The pitching and defense was really good,” Greenfield-Central coach Mark Vail said. “Any time you throw a shutout, you’re really pleased with that. We’ve been getting timely hits, lately, and we got a couple tonight. Some of our at-bats were a little weak, but we’re working on it.”
The Cougars came in riding the momentum from a big Saturday sweep of a doubleheader against county and conference rival New Palestine, part of a seven-game win streak that extended to eight on Tuesday.
After starting 3-5 on the year, the Cougars find themselves sitting at 11-5 now, with a 6-2 mark in the Hoosier Heritage Conference.
“We decided that last year, we got knocked out the first round versus Mt. Vernon, and that’s not going to happen again,” Mundell said. “Both games versus New Pal, our energy level was really high. We just got the job done.”
Mundell got the job done on the mound Tuesday, dominating the Spartans with a curveball and other offspeed pitches that seemed to confuse the visitors and keep them passive at the plate.
“Me and Coach (Harold) Gibson talked before the game, and we had a plan — lots of offspeed — and executed it on the mound,” Mundell said.
While their pitcher was rolling, the Cougars offense wasn’t. They stayed patient at the plate and eventually it paid off, but it took some time.
Greenfield-Central loaded the bases in both the first and fourth innings behind three consecutive two-out walks in each frame, but strikeouts ended both and stranded a total of six runners.
The Cougars did score in the first, after Carson Gibson was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the inning. He stole second, advanced on a ground ball and scored on a balk before the bases were loaded.
It took until the fifth inning for the bats to come to life. A leadoff home run from Blake Wilson — to that point just the second hit of the game for the hosts, the first being a double from Wilson in the third — was followed by three straight singles to load the bases for a third time. Nick Atwood drew a walk to score a run and a wild pitch scored another, pushing the Greenfield-Central lead to four.
They added one more insurance run in the sixth after Gibson was again hit by a pitch. He scored off an RBI single from Adam Hutchison.
Wilson and Hutchison each had two hits for the Cougars. Mundell and Bradley McDowell each singled.
After Mundell left the mound in the fifth, Fralich allowed just one hit while striking out one in the final two innings.
The Cougars are riding a wave of momentum toward the tail end of the season, winning games in much the same way they won Tuesday.
“I think we’ve been real patient at the plate. It’s getting us some good pitches to hit,” Vail said. “Our pitching has been real good for us, and that keeps us in the game, keeps us close, gives us a chance to be patient and pick our spots at the plate.”
Greenfield-Central is next in action Friday, when they bring their eight-game winning streak into another big HHC doubleheader, this time at home against conference-leading Pendleton Heights.
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Greenfield-Central 5, Connersville 0
C (8-8);000;000;0;—;0;3;1
GC (11-5);100;031;X;—;5;6;0
WP: Brady Mundell. LP: Gavin Lynch.
HR: Blake Wilson (GC). 2B: Wilson (GC); Colton Massey (C). RBI: Wilson, Nick Atwood, Adam Hutchison (GC).
Notable: Mundell 5 IP, 9 K, 1 BB, 2 H, 0 R; Wilson 2-for-4, 2B, HR, RBI (GC).
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