PEMBERVILLE, Ohio — Eastwood baseball is a perfect 23-0 on the season and the No. 1 ranked team in the state for Division III.
With threats up and down their lineup, a large part of their success comes from junior Andrew Badenhop.
Leading the team with seven wins on the mound, he has thrown two no hitters in wins over Perkins and Lake. On Wednesday in a win over Otsego, Badenhop threw a complete game shutout and only gave up three hits.
He also is batting over .400 on the season for the Eagles.
"Just pound the zone, throw a lot of strikes, be able to locate well, don't overthrow," said Badenhop. "I have to thank my defense because I have a lot of trust in them that they can do a really good job behind me. Just go out there, try not to do too much, go out there and have some fun of course too."
"When we hand him the ball we expect big things out of him, but I want to go back to how tough he is," said Eastwood head coach Kevin Leady. "When he's up on the mound he competes and that's one of the things that we approach with our pitchers is that if you can compete up there everyday, not all of your pitches may be good, but can you give me your best competitor, that spirit up there. He does that, that's a very, very tough kid and we know when we hand him the ball that he's going to get deep into a game."
When you're unbeaten and the No. 1 team in the state, you're going to have a target on your back. That's something the Eagles embrace as they push toward the postseason.
"Just go out there and take things one game at a time, not worry about the future too much," said Badenhop. "Just go out there, have fun, do our thing and good thigs are going to happen."
"We know that going into each game that we're going to expect the best pitcher, we're going to expect the best punch, we're going to expect them to play their best game," said Leady. "We talk about three phases in baseball: pitching, hitting, and defense. If we can bring all three of those we think we have an opportunity late in a game to win."