Another 1 of our Rockstars!!!

For three years, Central Catholic's Reed Drysdale manned the infield for one of the state's best Class A programs.

When Knights coach Tim Bordenet first floated the idea of moving Drysdale to catcher for his senior season, the four-year starter didn't love the concept.

"He wanted me to try it on the Legion team last year, and I didn't end up doing it, because I didn't tell the coach, because I didn't really want to," Drysdale said.

It didn't take long for Drysdale to put team concerns above his own. He enters Saturday's Class A semistate against Fort Wayne Blackhawk as Central Catholic's No. 3 hitter and an increasingly solid presence at catcher.

"I knew I probably wasn't going to win anything being behind the plate, individually," Drysdale said. "I had to put away all the individual awards so we can win another state title. Which, I'm fine with. I love that we're in our position right now, and the awards don't mean anything anymore."

Drysdale started at third base as a freshman and sophomore, and opened last year as the starting shortstop before moving to second base. Though Drysdale had caught sparingly at younger levels, and not at all since junior high, Bordenet saw his potential.

"He has great hands and good feet, and a strong arm," Bordenet said. "Those are the three biggest things that you need behind the plate. And the fact that he had so much experience. The catching position is a leadership position and he definitely brings those things to our team behind the plate."

Drysdale said the biggest adjustments to his new position were the pitchers' increased velocity and learning to block balls in the dirt. He also had to build the stamina necessary to catch two games in one day.

Yet Bordenet said that after just a week of catching bullpen sessions, Drysdale began to adapt.

"He's athletically smart," CC senior pitcher Taylor Glaze said. "He knows what to do. He's a great athlete and he just gets it right away. That's what's great about him because he can just fill in any spot."

Drysdale batted second in Central Catholic's 2007 state championship victory, and has spent to bulk of his career at the front or middle of the Knights' order. But the extra physical and mental toll hampered Drysdale's offense early, and he opened the season with an 0-for-12 slump.

By making another adjustment, Drysdale is batting .368 since.

"In past years, I'd go up there and I'd have the energy level to be a swinger and just hit it," Drysdale said. "Now you've really got to focus, because you're exhausted when you go up there as a catcher, because you've been working so hard."

Drysdale's baseball career will end this summer as he prepares to study business at Indiana. He didn't expect to go out as a catcher, but he embraces the position he initially resisted.

"Being in on every single play, and having a chance to catch these great pitchers, it's been great," Drysdale said. "I've really grown to love it, honestly."

Knights cruise!

Central Catholic & Delphi to play their semi-state games at Kokomo!!!

Central Catholic and Delphi will travel to Kokomo for its respective semistate baseball games on Saturday.

Defending Class A state champion Central Catholic (25-7) will play Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (10-13) at 1 p.m. Delphi (25-7), which won its first regional championship on Monday, plays Fairfield (24-3) at 3 p.m. in the Class 2A game.

The winners advance to their respective state championship games next Friday and Saturday at Victory Field in Indianapolis.

Semistate admission is $6, and tickets will be available at the site on game day.

A big time victory paves way for CC!!!

Taylor Glaze
is a
Rockstar!!!


Several professional scouts, including New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya, gathered at Leming Field on Saturday to observe a premiere baseball talent.

Central Catholic senior Taylor Glaze decided to give them a double feature.

While heralded Cowan senior Justin O'Conner struggled to command his electric stuff, Glaze steadily frustrated the Blackhawks while pitching Central Catholic to a 4-2 Class A regional semifinal victory.

"Before the game, I saw all the fans, and I was getting ready to go," Glaze said. "I love big crowds. It doesn't faze me at all, because I don't pay attention. I just go out and pitch my game, and that's what I did today. I let my defense make plays and they made every play I could ask them for."

Glaze (8-2) scattered five hits, including a home run by O'Conner, who is expected to be drafted as a catcher in Monday's first round of the Major League First-Year Player draft. But the left-hander allowed only two baserunners after O'Conner's third-inning blast and struck out nine.

Saturday's semifinal pitching matchup was a repeat of last year's Cowan Regional championship. O'Conner struck out 17 Knights in nine innings, Glaze struck out 12 in 10 innings, but Central Catholic eventually won 8-2 in 11.

Facing 28 batters in Saturday's complete game effort, Glaze located his fastball, curveball and slider for 22 first-pitch strikes.

"He knows how to pitch," CC coach Tim Bordenet said. "He knows how to mix it up, he hits his spots very well, and has great command of the strike zone. Sometimes you don't have to throw 90 miles an hour if you can put the ball where you want it, and that's kind of what Taylor's game is."

The Knights' hitters never found much success against O'Conner's low-90s fastball and strong curveball. Central Catholic batters struck out 13 times (eight in the final three innings combined), and two of their three hits did not leave the infield.

Yet O'Conner (5-1) struggled to find the strike zone, beginning with his second pitch of the game, which hit Scott Windler. He walked four, hit three batters and threw three wild pitches.

"He was a little amped up early," said Cowan coach Camden Parkhurst, a Clinton Central graduate. "Getting over the big-game emotions early, that accounted for part of it in the first inning. Control wasn't exactly where we wanted it to be, but as a pitcher you're going to have days like that."

Central Catholic trailed 1-0 in the bottom of the first, when a rare catcher's interference call kept the Knights' inning alive. Windler scored on O'Conner's first wild pitch, and Jason Aldridge was hit in the helmet with a first-pitch fastball with the bases loaded to force in Reed Drysdale.

After a few minutes on the ground, Aldridge was able to walk off the field. Bordenet said Aldridge suffered a concussion, and the first baseman did not play in the championship game.

After O'Conner's home run tied the game in the third, No. 9 hitter Danny Anthrop sparked the Knights in the fourth. His single to center was Central Catholic's only solid hit, and he later scored on Glaze's dribbler up the third base line. Cole Hruskovich, who reached by being hit by a pitch, later scored on a wild pitch.

"Coach told us all week that we had to shorten our swings, so that's what we did," said Anthrop, who also reached on an infield single and stole a base in the second inning.

Cody Campbell's leadoff double in the sixth was the only hit Glaze allowed over the final four innings. The bottom four spots in the Blackhawk lineup went 0-for-11 with six strikeouts.

In contrast to O'Conner, the only free baserunner Glaze gave the Blackhawks came on an intentional walk in the first inning.

Semi-State bound!!!! Oh Yea!!!!

My son Nick
& Taylor Glaze!!


Regional host Central Catholic made Saturday night's 25-1 championship game victory over Randolph Southern look exceedingly easy.

Knights junior Brett Haan explained that wasn't necessarily the case.

"It's a lot of hard work," said Haan, who allowed just two hits and struck out nine in the five-inning game. "We put in practice after practice after practice. Coach (Tim Bordenet) preaches fundamentals, and that first game, we did, and the second game, we did all we could. Twenty-five to one win; enough said."

Defending state champion Central Catholic won its seventh regional championship, all since 2002. After facing Cowan ace Justin O'Conner in a 4-2 semifinal victory, the Knights feasted on Randolph Southern's pitching staff.

A seven-run second inning set the tone, and the Knights sent 14 batters to the plate while putting the game away with a 10-run fifth.

"We had to make a bit of an adjustment; a 20 mile-per-hour decrease," said CC senior catcher Reed Drysdale, who drove in a run in each of his first three plate appearances. "We worked on that before the game for about an hour. It's something we're more used to playing in that conference that we do. It didn't take long for us to adjust."

Rebels coach Brad Fisher started his top pitcher, Zach Lee, in the semifinals against Attica. Lee's complete game victory put Randolph Southern (25-12) in the finals, yet left Fisher with few pitching options.

Blake Welch (4-5) started but lasted only two innings, and Rebel pitchers allowed 18 hits, seven walks, seven wild pitches and hit three batters.

"We worked hard with our pitching staff to get here, and obviously we were spent," Fisher said. "That was our No. 2 guy and they got to him early and it just went downhill from there. It's tough to come out of that."

Austin Munn homered leading off the second, and things only got worse from there for Randolph Southern. Munn also drove in the seventh and final run of the frame with an infield single, and the Knights quickly led 8-0.

Randolph Southern, playing in its first regional, managed only Jake Wissel's first-inning single and Welch's fourth-inning double against Haan (7-2). He had to follow Taylor Glaze's five-hit, nine-strikeout performance in the semifinal victory over Cowan.

"We challenge each other every day," Haan said. "Our coach tells us we may be the best 1-2 in the area, so we strive on that. We try to be that."