BY KEVIN HARRIS News & Tribune
SEYMOUR — When people think of the prototypical leadoff hitter, they envision a player who collects base hits, steals bases and scores runs.

On Wednesday night at American Legion Field in Seymour, Jeffersonville leadoff hitter Drew Campbell showed he can drive in runs and hit for power as well.

The Red Devil senior went 3-for-4 with two home runs, a double and seven RBIs to lead the Class 4A No. 7 Red Devils to a 15-1 victory in five innings over Seymour in the first round of the Hoosier Hills Conference. Campbell also scored three times.

“That’s a good day. That’s a good week, let alone a good day,” Jeff head coach Derek Ellis said. “Drew has been doing it all year. He’s the guy that makes things go for us. When he’s on, we feed off of him and good things happen. You don’t expect your leadoff guy to have two home runs. You expect him to get on base and make some things happen. He’s just having a phenomenal year. It’s All-State caliber, no doubt.”

Jeffersonville (13-3) will host Jennings County in the HHC Tournament semifinals at 6 tonight at Don Poole Field. The Panthers knocked off Columbus East 5-3 in eight innings in the opening round Wednesday.

The game finally got played after it was rained out Monday and Tuesday. Ellis said he was unsure how his team would perform after not playing the first two games this week.

“It was hard to expect what we were going to see after the layoff. When you have a lot of time in between games, you’re hoping that the team is going to show up and be ready to play,” Ellis said. “I’m just glad that we came out with some intensity and played extremely well.”

Campbell’s bat was hot right from the outset, as he hit a solo shot off Owls starter Ryan Weineke to start the game to put the Red Devils up 1-0. The ball landed on the Seymour tennis courts, located near the fence in right-center field.

Jeff first baseman Joe Burke followed with an RBI double, then scored on a Bailey Falkenstein single in the top of the first inning to extend Jeff’s lead to 3-0.

After Seymour (9-7) scored its lone run in the bottom of the first, Campbell struck again in the second.

With runners on first and second base and no outs, he sent another Weineke pitch over the right-center field wall for a three-run blast to up the advantage to 6-1.

The Red Devils put four more runs on the scoreboard in the top of the third.

With two out and the bases loaded, Campbell got his double that landed in shallow center to plate two runs to put Jeff up seven. Campbell took advantage of some porous Owl defense as he raced to second base when no Seymour fielder was covering the bag.

The next batter, third baseman Ian Ellis laced a single down the third-base line to knock in two more runs to increase the Red Devil lead 10-1.

Four more runs came across the plate in the top of the fourth. Jeremiah Phelps drove in two of those runs with two singles to left with one out versus Owl reliever Tiller Cummings. After that, Jeff pinch-hitter Jordan Thomas drew a bases-loaded walk and Campbell got his seventh RBI with a sacrifice fly to right to score Chris Downs.

The Red Devils’ final run happened in the fifth when pinch-hitter Jack Ellis smacked an RBI double with none out.

Falkenstein went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Ian Ellis had a 2-for-4 game with a run scored and an RBI. Thomas, Downs and teammate Jacob Cochrum each came home twice.

Jeff starter Cam Northern got the victory in his first decision of the season. The right-hander pitched four innings, surrendering one earned run on three hits. Northern had six strikeouts and two walks.

“Cameron didn’t have his best stuff. He didn’t have the velocity that he usually has,” Coach Ellis said. “But with that being said, we scored three in the first and it takes a little pressure off of him. We’d like to see Cameron be a little bit more aggressive early when you have the lead and going right at some guys, but he seemed to be a little too fine and he was messing up, but all in all, he pitched a nice ballgame for really his first start of the year.”

Phelps relieved Northern in the bottom of the fifth. In his lone inning of work, Phelps allowed no hits and struck out two.

The Red Devils defeated Jennings County 10-0 at home on April 12.

“I’m assuming they threw their No. 1 [pitcher] and I’m assuming Columbus threw their No. 1, so I like our chances,” Derek Ellis said. “But [Jennings head coach] Gabe [Lowman] is a pretty good coach and he’s got some pretty good players and it’s Hoosier Hills Conference, so we better be ready to play.”

HHC TOURNAMENT

FIRST ROUND

JEFFERSONVILLE 15, SEYMOUR 1

Jeffersonville 334 41—15 12 0

Seymour 100 00— 1 3 2

W — Cam Northern (1-0). L — Ryan Weineke (2-4). 2B — Drew Campbell (J), Joe Burke (J), Jack Ellis (J), Satoshi Hirose (S). HR — Campbell 2 (J). Records — Jeffersonville 13-3, Seymour 9-7.