IUPUC freshman Wyatt Sutton is among the NAIA leaders in stolen bases.
An inaugural baseball season that didn’t produce a ton of wins ended with a touch of promise for IUPUC.
The Crimson Pride won their final two games over the weekend, beating Grace Christian in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, then topping Grace again in Saturday’s regular-season finale in Grand Rapids Michigan. That left IUPUC with a 5-41 final record, but as coach Scott Bickel said before and throughout the season, this year was about getting the program off the ground.
“Our goal all along has been to exist,” Bickel said. “It’s Columbus’ only college baseball team we’ve ever had. It was expected we’d have some challenges to overcome. Our guys didn’t quit and gave it a full season’s effort. There were a lot of positives that the record doesn’t show.”
The Crimson Pride rank in the top 10 nationally with 145 stolen bases as a team. Wyatt Sutton, a freshman infielder from Eastern Hancock, is in the top 10 nationally with 46 steals.
“That’s pretty outstanding for a first-year program,” Bickel said.
Peyton Blinn, a sophomore from Cascade, led the team with a .338 batting average and 30 RBIs, followed by Sutton at .312. Jared Ross, a junior from Franklin, hit five home runs; and Ben Fricke, a junior from Mt. Pulaski, Illinois, added four homers and 23 RBIs.
On the mound, Riley Mertl, a sophomore from Westfield, was the only two-game winner for IUPUC. Gavin Haltom, a freshman from Franklin Central, and Blake Nigg, a sophomore from Mooresville, picked up their first collegiate wins this weekend at Grace Christian.
The Crimson Pride finished with a team batting average of .223 and a team ERA of 11.70.
“I would say as a first-year program, we were at times really good and at times really bad,” Bickel said. “We haven’t fully established our pitching staff and rotation and depth. Our speed and our stolen bases certainly helped, but to win a ballgame, you have to score more runs than the other team. I’d say we have a ways to grow in each category. Our on-base percentage (.343) showed that we weren’t on base to score enough. Pitching, our ERA is higher than we’d like it. Some of that is inexperience, and some of that is the good competition that we faced. Over half our schedule was against some of the best teams in the area.”
IUPUC had four local players on its roster this season. Trey Johnson, a junior from Hauser, came home after playing two years at Purdue-Northwest and was one of the Crimson Pride’s leading hitters and also did a little pitching. Alex McComb, a freshman from Columbus East, had a .357 batting average in limited at bats. Hauser graduate Jackson Paradise and Columbus Christian graduate Parker Walden saw a little action as freshmen.
Everyone on the team played at some point this season. In all, 24 saw at-bats, and 21 saw pitching action, with several doing both.
“We had to overcome some injuries,” Bickel said. “We always had the next-man-up mentality.”
Bickel is expecting most, if not all, of his players to return next season.
“This was a development year for us,” Bickel said. “We are young, and I think we’re just going to continue to grow and that’s our plan. We’re adding more student-athletes. It’s really good for our city and good for our school. Our school is going to continue to grow. We’re getting our foundation built with men of character.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Bickel said. “I’m proud of our coaches,” he added. “I’m really happy with how the coaches of NAIA have reached out and offered their mentorship. I’m thankful for our partners for helping getting things off the ground.”
One thing IUPUC hopes to do next year that it did not get to do this season is play home games on its new field at Ceraland. The Crimson Pride were on the road for 36 of their 46 games this season and played 10 home games at Jennings County High School.
IUPUC was able to get on the Ceraland field for practice last week, and some youth baseball teams have started playing on it.
“Considering that field started in October, we were fortunate it is where it is,” Bickel said. “It just wasn’t ready for college athletes yet. It will be ready next year. We won’t have to be road warriors next year.”
The Crimson Pride will play a full River States Conference regular-season and tournament schedule next year and will be eligible for the postseason NAIA Tournament.
“As I told our AD (Zach McClellan), this might be one of the few times we end our season with a win,” Bickel said.
