Bulldogs topple Warriors to advance

BY Todd Taylor

Tue, May 13 2008

— DANVILLE – The Brownsburg baseball team burst out of the gates to open the 2008 season Tuesday, defeating host Danville 15-1 in a lopsided Hendricks County Tournament semifinal game to set up a showdown with Avon in the final.
Nine Brownsburg players hit and scored, while pitcher Matt Duncan threw four scoreless innings and recorded 10 strikeouts. The 10-run rule was implemented after six innings.
“They were tired of being in the gym and working out and it’s good to be out here against competition,” Brownsburg coach Pat O’Neil said. “We saw some good things. We swung aggressively and made some things happen.”
The Bulldogs wasted no time taking control of the game as catcher Tucker Barnhart hit a deep two-run homerun over the left field fence in the first inning. Later in the frame, Kurtis Drake and Duncan drove in runs and Kevin Blessinger stole home to push the Brownsburg lead to 5-0 after the top half of the first.
Danville had opportunities to get back in the game but stranded runners in scoring position in each of the first five innings. In all, the Warriors left eight runners on base.
“We just couldn’t come up with a timely hit,” Danville coach Rick Foster said. “We didn’t quit and we played hard.”
Trailing 10-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Danville’s David Hess blasted a double to deep right field to drive in the Warriors’ lone run and keep the game alive another inning.
In the top of the sixth, Brownsburg pushed five runs across the plate on six hits.
Duncan and sophomore southpaw Alex McGowan combined for 15 strikeouts. Duncan finished each of his four innings pitched with a strikeout – stranding a total of seven Danville base runners.
“That showed some gumption on his part to get that big strikeout,” O’Neil said. “He just has to realize he has a good defense behind him and he doesn’t have to strike everybody out.”
For Brownsburg, Zach Harrison and Barnhart each had three RBI and Joel Stucker, Jacob Houston, and Drake added two RBI apiece.
With the win, the Bulldogs move on to the championship game where they will face an Avon team that upset them in the sectional tournament last season. Brownsburg hosts the Orioles at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“I’m looking forward to it,” O’Neil said. “Early in the season you see what you’re made out of and you go from there because it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Danville hosts Cascade in the third-place game at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Cadets fell to Avon 10-0 Tuesday.