Dylan Stutsman Ks 10, Bloomington North off to Sectional Final

By Ben Grossberg

Shelbyville – In the second semifinal of Sectional 14 No. 7 Bloomington North and Columbus East faced off. East starter, Brian Wichman (Murray State commit), looked to end North’s 18 game winning streak. Junior Dylan Stutsman got the ball for North with a perfect 6-0 record during the year.

Both pitchers got through the first with relative ease, each allowing one runner to reach.

In the second North broke the tie with a run. Colby Stratten (Indiana commit) led off the inning with a RBI double to the left center field fence. Max Williams then singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. Zach Cleaver did his job and put a ball deep enough into the outfield to get Stratten home.

In the third North got another led off double, this time from Adam Cornwell (U Indy commit). After a wild pitch moved Cornwell to third, Blake Richardson grounded out bringing in the run and putting North up 2-0.

In the fourth North took advantage of an East mistake to add to their lead. After a walk to Cleaver led off the inning, Peyton Gray replaced Wichman on the mound. Back to back singles though loaded the bases with no outs. Gray went right at the North hitters striking out the next batter. Then Richardson attempted a suicide squeeze, but missed the ball putting Cleaver in a rundown. East had Cleaver out at home after a couple throws back and forth, but a dropped ball allowed him to score safely. North could not put across any more runs in the inning though.

Meanwhile, Stutsman was cruising through the East batters. Retiring 13 in a row and not allowing a batter to reach base in the third through the sixth inning.

The game got interesting in the bottom of the seventh though. Christian Wichman reached on an error to start the inning and Sam Claycamp singled up the middle to knock Stutsman out of the game. Pete Allen came in for North on the mound. After striking out the first batter, Cam Curry singled to load the bases with one out. Allen got another strikeout, but hit Yates Burkhart to bring in the first run of the game. Peyton Gray came up with a chance to tie or win the game. He worked a full count, but with the runners going Allen got a pop up to Richardson to end the game.

North advances to face East Central on Monday in the Sectional 14 Championship game. Stutsman got the win throwing 6+ innings allowing zero earned runs, three hits, no walks, and struck out 10.