Seniors predict Central Catholic baseball will strive for 5

Central Catholic’s six outgoing seniors never experienced a state tournament loss in their high school careers.

But the graduating Knights don’t expect the program’s success to end just because their careers have.

“I don’t just have a lot of confidence, I expect them to win five in a row next year,” said senior catcher Wiley Lodde, one of four senior starters along with Austin Munn, Nick Stone and Dalton Skees.

Several major contributors return for a team that will attempt to defend its Hoosier Conference co-championship and extend a 26-game postseason winning streak.
Sophomore Evan Kennedy hit a team-high .448 with five home runs in the No. 3 spot. He’s expected to take over for Lodde behind the plate.

Kennedy shared the team lead in RBIs (32) with junior Andrew Hubertz, who batted cleanup and played third base. Junior first baseman Ryan DeBoy homered four times and batted .313.

Shortstop Jake Churchill, one of the Knights’ three-sport athletes, recovered from a back injury to help solidify the infield. Cowan Olinger and Mitch Witteveen are returning starters in the outfield who both had big offensive moments in the state tournament.

“We’re going to enjoy this, but we know after tonight and after the next few days that we’re going to go back to work getting ready for next year,” Churchill said after the championship. “Besides losing the seniors, we have a lot of experience coming back.”

Though Munn and Stone received the starting assignments in the postseason, the pitching staff returns three major contributors.

Sophomore Lucas Richardson went 4-0 with an 0.70 ERA while starting seven games. Hubertz and another sophomore, Hayes Cronk, combined to go 9-1 and strike out 44 batters against just nine walks.

While the six departing seniors are taking a lot of production and experience with them, the Knights say they’re also leaving something important behind.

“It’s up to the next group to carry on,” CC coach Tim Bordenet said. “The groups that have come before them have kind of laid the groundwork and built a tradition. Our guys, I think, will embrace that next year and run with it.

“We’ll give it our best shot. We’re not going to do anything fancy. We’ll play basic baseball and take our chances.”