Crothersville senior Logen O’Sullivan, seated third from left, was joined by his family, brother Conner, mother Susan, father Robert, and back row, from left, CHS athletic director Jacob Dunn, assistant baseball coach Rita Cook, head baseball coach Eric Hilton and assistant baseball coach Mark Monroe when he signed to play baseball at Indiana university Columbus Friday night.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
CROTHERSVILLE — Logen O’Sullivan played baseball, basketball, and golf this past school year at Crothersville High School.
There is no doubt what his favorite sport is and on Friday night he signed to continue to play baseball at Indiana University Columbus.
“It was close to home,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about staying away from home and still live in Indiana.
“Baseball has been my life for my whole life. I grew up playing it and in a small community like this and the fan support you have is exciting to have,” he said.
He began playing baseball in a peewee league at the age of 6.
O’Sullivan played wherever the Tigers needed him on defense, and those positions included catcher, pitcher, and infield.
He received the mental attitude award at the spring athletics awards program, and he was named to the Shawe Memorial all-sectional team.
He said his favorite position is shortstop. “You have a lot of hard groundballs hit to you, coming off the bat pretty quick like that. Making a play like that makes you feel better about yourself.”
O’Sullivan considers himself a contact hitter. “I like making contact, hitting line drives, just getting on base and getting my on base percentage up.”
He played travel ball with a U14 team based in Seymour, and he said that experience helped him with his high school ball.
At Columbus, “I just want to be the best I can be, contribute to the team and win ballgames with my team.”
He said the coaches at Columbus told him he would either play shortstop or outfield.
Crothersville head baseball coach Eric Hilton said O’Sullivan was a big contributor to the Tigers’ program.
“Logen was a key attribute to the program from being a utility player for us, to pitching to catching to being an infielder and an outfielder, wherever we needed him.
“Wherever we thought the ball would go, we always had Logen in that role to have him field balls and make us a little stronger defensively. His senior year he had a fielding average above .900, so he did a great job fielding wherever we needed him to go. Shortstop or third base was great spot for Logan.”
Hilton said O’Sullivan has a good background in baseball.
“He was one of our best players on knowledge of the game, so he brings great knowledge of where plays need to go, how to play the game. His base stealing was great to see. He was our second-leading base stealer those three years when he was here.
“Logen was always great for that hit when we needed it. He was always a contact hitter. He would make contact and at least advance the runners for us, so it was great to see his bat really improve from his freshman year.”
Hilton said he feels that O’Sullivan can have a nice career at Columbus.
“I think they got a great young man to contend for spots on the team, and to be able to take that program to the next level where that coach wants it to go.”
O’Sullivan said, “I enjoyed competing every game (as a Tiger), knowing that we had a shot at every game, out there fighting for it.”
He played sports his freshmen and sophomore years at Crothersville, transferred to Austin his junior year and came back to CHS his senior year.
He said all his family graduated from Crothersville and “I wanted to graduate as a Tiger.”