The Center Grove Trojans will venture away from home to challenge the Columbia City Eagles at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Center Grove is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 8 runs per game this season.
Center Grove's usually-dominant pitching crew will be looking to make up for Tuesday's struggle, when Avon hitters got past them. The Trojans fell 10-7 to the Orioles on Tuesday. The Trojans' loss signaled the end of their seven-game winning streak.
Center Grove got a good showing from Kyle Boots, who tossed two innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits.
At the plate, Gannon Grant made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and got on base in all four of his plate appearances with two runs, two RBI, and one double. Another player making a difference was Grady Grant, who got on base in all three of his plate appearances with one run and one RBI.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Columbia City). They blew past Wawasee 14-0 on Thursday. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest win of the season.
Carter Wilkinson was a major factor no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits while striking out nine over five innings pitched. Wilkinson was also big at the plate, getting on base in four of his five plate appearances with two runs and one stolen base.
In other batting news, Trey Deckman was incredible, going 2-for-5 with three runs, two doubles, and one stolen base. That's the most runs he has posted since back in May of 2024. Kalieb Walter also deserves some recognition as he got his first hit of the season.
Columbia City was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .464. That's the best batting average they've posted all season.
The victory made it two in a row for Columbia City and bumps their season record up to 4-2. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered a grand total of 0 runs in those games. As for Center Grove, they suffered their first road defeat, dropping their record down to 8-2.
