By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – After winning the first two games of the rare multi-game series, Seymour will go for the sweep of Bedford North Lawrence. In reality, only the final game will matter. How hard is beating an opponent three times in one season? The Owls will find out.
Seymour won the second meeting between the Hoosier Hills Conference rivals, taking the third-place game in the league tournament with a 4-2 win in six innings on Friday. Seymour (15-6) also won the regular-season clash on April 21. The final, winner-take-all battle will be in the IHSAA sectional semifinal at Jeffersonville on May 31, and that will be for survival.
The second verse was much the same as the first. Seymour won the initial meeting by a 3-2 decision, counting on tough pitching and offensive manufacturing to clip the Stars. Ditto that. Seymour starter Brady Harpe got pretty stingy after surrendering a lead-off home run to Cal Gates, and the Owls got key hits from Parker Thompson and Mack Longmeier to subdue BNL once again.
“Every game is like that,” Seymour coach Jeremy Richey said. “It’s been that way for years. It’s two teams that are very even. We know it will be a battle in a couple of weeks. We feel good about the two, but we know that will mean nothing in a couple of weeks.”
Here’s what it does mean. The Owls, with an age advantage of eight seniors on the roster, have the experience edge. They have the confidence edge. But will the third time be a charm?
“It’s always hard to beat a team three times in any sport,” BNL coach Steven McNabb said. “It might not mean a dang thing in two weeks. We know we can play with Seymour, they’re a really good ballclub. They’re a senior-led team that has a mission to accomplish. I just hope we can give them everything they can handle and be a block in that road.”
Seymour took a 1-0 lead in the first against BNL sophomore starter Jackson Jones. Harpe singled, Thompson was hit by a pitch, and Jackson Trueblood sacrificed both runners ahead. Harpe scored on a ground out. That’s fundamental, old-school manufacturing baseball.
BNL answered with the new-school metrics, a high launch angle, high exit-velocity blast off the bat from Gates, who clubbed a homer to deep center on a two-strike pitch.
Seymour took a 3-1 lead in the second, then BNL answered with a RBI single by Lucas Ira in the third. But from that point, the Stars were silenced. Harpe struck out 7 in six innings, and all five BNL hits came from the top four spots in the batting order. Everyone else was 0-for-14.
“We have to find a way to get guys on base for Cal, Cam (Gates) and Tate (Tanksley), to wrap that around a little bit better,” McNabb said. “It’s a team effort, win or lose, but it’s just the facts. We’ll keep pressing buttons.”
Longmeier’s bomb in the sixth was a huge insurance run. Seymour added another run in the seventh, but the game was suspended with one out in the bottom of the seventh when lightning was detected in an approaching storm. After two delays, the game was called. The official final score reverts back to the last completed inning.
Harpe and Thompson had two hits each for Seymour.
”We have to keep working,” Richey said. “Our pitchers have done a nice job, limiting them to four runs in the two games, but we have to put together better bats.”
BNL will visit county rival Mitchell on Saturday.
