Arabians' bounce-back season ends in Sectional 9 semifinals
May 25—NEW PALESTINE — Landon Brooks scattered four hits and struck out eight batters over seven shutout innings Saturday to lead Greenfield-Central to a 3-0 victory in the Sectional 9 semifinals against Pendleton Heights.
It was the Arabians' second loss against Brooks this season. He struck out five and gave up seven hits in the Cougars' 9-2 victory at Pendleton Heights on April 30.
"He has such good command of his off speed (pitches) in any count," Arabians coach Matt Vosburgh said. "He didn't walk anybody the first time that we faced him. He didn't walk anybody this time that we faced him. So we know he's gonna be in the zone. It's about putting better swings on his off speed.
"He made us look uncomfortable all day long, and we couldn't really settle in, and you can see that by the pop outs. If we put a ball harder on the ground a couple times, I think that game goes a little bit differently. They didn't make an error. We didn't put any pressure on them defensively, and when you can just camp under a fly ball time and time again, that gives you confidence. And then when you see our guys swinging and missing at your best pitch, it gives you even more confidence.
"We never rattled him. He never got rattled, and so that's on us as a coaching staff to figure out how we can be better prepared for a pitcher like him moving forward."
The only time the Arabians (17-11) put multiple runners on base came in the bottom of the sixth inning on singles by Ty Frakes and Jordan Williamson. But Brooks induced a groundout to end the threat.
Rylan Keesling singled with two outs in the second inning, and Colin Axel-Adams singled with one out in the third for Pendleton Heights' other hits.
Frakes was the only Arabian baserunner to advance into scoring position.
Pendleton Heights starter Jacob Garner matched Brooks at the outset with two scoreless innings.
But Zander Cobb broke the deadlock with a two-out single in the third, and Garner departed after allowing back-to-back singles to open the fourth.
A sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third, and a fielder's choice gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead.
Greenfield-Central (13-13) added an insurance run in the fifth on a two-out single by Owen Zumbolo. But the Arabians executed a perfect relay throw after a double by Kyle Oden — the game's only extra-base hit — to retire Zumbolo at the plate.
Garner was charged with two earned runs after allowing five hits with one walk and one strikeout in three innings. Colton Frank surrendered just three hits and one earned run with two strikeouts and a walk in four solid innings of relief.
"(The Cougars) played a game that you see sometimes in sectional," Vosburgh said. "They hit maybe two or three balls hard, but they also ran the bases well. They got a couple of squib hits with those guys on base, and the one or two walks that our pitchers did give up came back to haunt us.
"Sometimes baseball is that way, and I thought we were evenly matched. I just thought that they made the adjustments a little bit quicker to our pitching staff than we made to their pitcher."
Despite the sour ending, it was a bounce-back season in many ways for the Arabians — who claimed their first Nick Muller Madison County Tournament title since 2019 and posted the program's highest win total since the 2017 team went 19-6.
But they had higher goals after avenging a regular-season sweep with a 4-3 victory against Mount Vernon to open sectional play.
"Pendleton Heights has set a standard for a long time, so really we did some things that had been missing for a couple of years, and so I wouldn't say we took a step forward. We just — we looked to get back to what we know Pendleton Heights baseball is," Vosburgh said. "... I thought that there were some things left on the table that we wanted to do better at. There were a couple of our goals that we fell short of. But, at the end of the day, there were a lot of positives, and that's what I'm the most proud of is our guys."
It was the final game for four seniors who made an indelible mark on the program on the field and in the school community as a whole.
Bo Surface, Caden Sims, Clint Miller and Wes Kupferer represent the qualities Vosburgh hopes shine through for the program on an annual basis.
"They're just good people," Vosburgh said. "I just talked to them a second ago, and I mentioned how we've got three of those four seniors that have a 4.0 (grade-point average) or above. They're just good kids, good people. They're program people, and they just worked hard.
"They gave everything in the offseason, everything this season to try to represent our team well, our program well, our town well. And they're gonna go out, they're gonna be just good people, good husbands, good fathers. They're just good people. That's what I'm gonna remember most about them."
