Pendleton Heights graduate Wayne Bond has helped power the Ball State baseball team to a 25-17 record.

Bond is hitting .345 with 11 home runs (tied for the team lead) and 50 RBIs (12 better than his nearest teammate). In 165 at-bats, he has just 20 strikeouts and 18 walks. The senior has been successful on 11 of 13 steal attempts.

He has been among the most durable of the Hoosiers, starting 40 of Indiana’s 42 games.

Anderson High School product Michael Earley is hitting .330 and having a solid sophomore season for Indiana despite the team struggling to an 18-25 record.

He has three home runs and has knocked home 17 runs. He has walked nine times and been hit by a pitch 10. Earley also has three steals.

PH’s Ethan Wilson is Earley’s teammate at Indiana. He has played in all but two of Indiana’s 33 games and started 24 of them.

Wilson is hitting .268 with one home run and 17 RBIs. He has walked seven times and struck out on 15 occasions. He has been at his best in the 21 Big Ten games, hitting .326 with seven runs driven home.

Freshman Chelsea Held has been on a drive of steady improvement for the Southern Illinois softball team.

Held, a Pendleton Heights graduate, is hitting .281 while playing in 38 of her team’s 50 (27-23) games. She has one home run and seven RBIs. She also has nine walks and 25 strikeouts. The Salukis are 12-8 in Missouri Valley Conference play. In league play Held is hitting .333.

At Morehead State, PH graduate Becca Butler is the softball team’s leading hitter.

Butler is batting .341 having started all of Morehead’s 44 games. She has six home runs and 31 RBIs, along with a team-high total of 14 doubles. She has walked 16 times and has only struck out 11 times in 135 at-bats.

Butler’s sixth home run was on April 26 in a 2-1 loss to Eastern Illinois.

Cole Hardacre, a freshman at Indiana University from Pendleton Heights, had a strong showing Friday at the Jesse Owens Track Classic, held at Ohio State University.

Hardacre posted a time of 14:34.11 in the 5,000-meter run. That qualified him for the United States Junior Nationals.

On April 18, Hardacre was sixth in the 1,500 meters at the Indiana Invitational. His time was 3:59.12.