North baseball falls after reaching title game

May 29—Even though Sam Glotzbach showed Monday that he's better than lightning, he has his limits.

And Terre Haute North, after getting a semifinal victory in the Class 4A Brownsburg Sectional thanks to Glotzbach's two lead-erasing extra-base hits, wasn't able to summon a second dramatic high school baseball win, losing 12-2 to the host Bulldogs in Monday night's championship game.

The Bulldogs, coached by former North baseball star Danny Roman, will play Franklin Central in a regional game while North ended an 11-11 season.

Most of the Patriot fun happened in the afternoon, although the semifinal game against Decatur Central didn't start out like it would be fun. The Hawks, whose offense included eight walks from three different North pitchers plus four infield hits and a misplayed bunt, took advantage of some of that wildness for two runs in the third inning and added two more runs in the fourth without hitting a ball out of the infield.

Cam Judson and Dru Long got back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the fifth, however, and Noah Bray beat out a bunt to load the bases. Decatur Central pitcher Kaden Barr got two outs without a run scoring, threatening to smother any possible North momentum, but then he walked Bryson Carpenter to force in a run. Glotzbach ripped a line drive to center for what looked like an RBI single, but when the outfielder stumbled on his way to the ball the hit turned into a three-run triple. Glotzbach scored on a passed ball three pitches later, and North led 5-4.

"I didn't really think much," Glotzbach said of his approach in a clutch situation. "I love my teammates, they bring all my emotions out ... it wasn't [a personal triumph], it was for everybody else."

The lead didn't last long. A hit batter, a bunt single and an infield hit started a three-run inning for the Hawks, and Decatur Central led 7-5 until the bottom of the seventh.

An error let Bray reach base to start that inning and both Briar Goda and Nate Millington bunted for hits. After one out, Glotzbach struck twice, a shot over the head of the left fielder for a three-run, walkoff double this time.

"We've been on the other side of games like that, especially in sectionals," North coach Scott Lawson said. "We showed a little bit of resilience ... today we battled back on two occasions."

North needed three pitchers to get through that game, however, and brought one of them, sophomore Kendall Gregg, back to start the championship game. Lawson had planned for that possibility, he said afterward, but some of those plans were wiped out by some team issues earlier in the week.

Brownsburg, on the other hand, had let an early 8-1 lead diminish to 13-9 before ending the day's first game against Avon with the tying run at the plate with two out, the bases loaded and a full count. Despite all that drama, the Bulldogs' ace, Walker Brodt, was still available to face the Patriots.

Making a tenuous situation worse was the bottom of the first inning against the Bulldogs, when an error and a two-out walk — an at-bat that included two two-strike pitches that spectators on North's side of the field felt should have been third strikes — prolonged the inning until Coulter Hamilton could hit a homer for three unearned runs.

North still hadn't had a baserunner when the Bulldogs added six more runs in the bottom of the third. The Patriots got two runs in the top of the fourth — a one-out single by Millington, two-out walks to Glotzbach and Kyler Dixon and a two-run single by Gregg — but couldn't hold the Bulldogs to less three runs in the bottom of the inning and went down in order to end the game in the fifth.

"We didn't make any plays defensively, and that put a lot of pressure on the pitchers," Lawson said afterward. "Kendall pitched a lot better than what it looked like [on the scoreboard]."

Semifinal game

DECATUR CENTRAL (AB-R-H-RBI) — Coffey ss 3-2-2-0, Losito 2b 4-2-2-3, Smith 1b 5-0-0-1, Yates dh-p 4-0-1-0, Barr p 0-0-0-0, Garrison lf 4-0-2-2, Fidler 3b 2-0-0-1, Owens rf 4-0-1-0, Brawley c 3-1-0-0, Vogel cf 0-2-0-0. Totals 29-7-8-7.

TERRE HAUTE NORTH (AB-R-H-RBI) — Goda rf 3-1-1-0, N.Millington ss-p 4-2-1-0, Carpenter cf 3-1-1-1, Glotzbach dh-1b-3b 4-1-2-6, Thoma p 0-0-0-0, Dixon 3b-ss 3-0-1-0, Gregg 1b-p-1b 3-0-1-0, Judson c 3-0-1-0, Long 2b 3-1-1-0, Bray lf 3-2-1-0. Totals 29-8-10-7.

Dec. Central 002 203 0 — 7

TH North 000 050 3 — 8

One out when winning run scored.

E — Long, Thoma, Dixon, Losito. LOB — DC 12, THN 4. 2B — Losito, Glotzbach. 3B — Glotzbach. SB — Carpenter, Coffey, Losito, Garrison. CS — Vogel. SH — Vogel. SF — Fidler.

Dec.Central IP H R ER BB SO

Barr 4.2 6 4 4 2 2

Yates (L) 1.2 4 3 2 0 1

TH North IP H R ER BB SO

Thoma 3 5 4 3 5 1

Gregg 3 3 3 3 1 2

N.Millington (W) 1 0 0 0 2 0

Thoma pitched to four batters in the fourth.

HBP — by Gregg (Vogel). PB — Brawley, Judson. T — 2:15.

Championship game

TERRE HAUTE NORTH (AB-R-H-RBI) — Goda rf 3-0-0-0, N.Millington ss-p-ss 2-1-1-0, Carpenter cf 2-0-0-0, Glotzbach 1b-3b-p-3b 1-1-0-0, Dixon 3b-ss-3b-2b 1-0-0-0, Gregg p-1b 2-0-1-2, Judson c 2-0-0-0, Long 2b 1-0-0-0, J.Millington p 0-0-0-0, Black ph 1-0-0-0, Bray lf 2-0-0-0. Totals 17-0-2-2.

BROWNSBURG (AB-R-H-RBI) — Dougherty 2b 4-0-0-1, Murphy ss 4-1-2-2, Tibbs dh 4-0-1-0, Brodt p 0-0-0-0, McNeer 3b 2-2-0-0, Hobbins pr 0-0-0-0, Hamilton 1b 3-2-3-3, Callahan pr 0-1-0-0, Fry lf 1-2-1-1, Wagner c 2-2-1-2, Hoover rf 2-1-2-0, Walsh cf 1-1-0-1. Totals 23-12-10-11.

TH North 000 20 — 2

Brownsburg 306 3x — 12

E — N.Millington, Dixon. LOB — THN 2, Brownsburg 6. HR — Hamilton. SB — Fry 2, Walsh 2, Dougherty. SF — Walsh.

TH North IP H R ER BB SO

Gregg (L) 2 2 3 0 2 2

N.Millington 0.1 5 6 5 1 0

Glotzbach 0.2 2 3 3 2 1

J.Millington 1 1 0 0 1 0

Glotzbach pitched to three batters in the fourth.

WP — Gregg, N.Millington, Brodt 2. Bk — Glotzbach. T — 1:36.

Next — Brownsburg (15-12) plays a regional game Saturday against Franklin Central. Terre Haute North finished 11-11, Decatur Central 10-14.