With the help of seven Berry errors, the Centre College baseball team jumped out to a 7-0 lead and held on to defeat the Vikings 9-3 Sunday, April 14 in Rome, Ga.

The Colonels wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. Senior Aaron Ammann (Winnetka, Calif.) walked to lead off the game. Freshman Sam Spees (Dayton, Ohio) singled, and sophomore Trey Litsey (Louisville, Ky.) reached on an error that scored Ammann. Freshman Jake Johnson (Louisville, Ky.) then scored Spees on an RBI ground out for a 2-0 lead.

Centre added to the lead in the third when Johnson hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Spees, who had doubled to begin the inning.

The lead grew to 5-0 in the fifth. Litsey drove in Spees with an RBI single and then scored on junior Kyle Cook's (Maineville, Ohio) single.

Spees scored again in the seventh on a throwing error, and junior Nick Forte (Gilbertsville, Ky.) drove in Litsey to extend the lead to 7-0 in the seventh.

The Vikings (15-19 overall, 12-6 SAA) cut into the lead in the home half of the seventh. Berry scored three runs off Centre junior starter Kyle Neu (Cincinnati, Ohio) in the inning, but Neu was able to end the inning with runners on first and second.

The Colonels tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the ninth as freshman Jacob Pike (Danville, Ky.) and junior Chris Duzyk (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) had an RBI each.

Neu and the defense did the rest as the junior hurler completed his seventh game of the season. He allowed three runs on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts to improve to 4-3 on the year.

Six different players finished with two hits each for the Colonels. Spees went 2-for-5 with four runs scored and also had 11 assists in the field. Litsey, Johnson, Cook, Forte and Pike also finished with two hits each. Litsey scored two runs, while Johnson drove in two.

Centre will next travel to Crestview Hills, Ky. Wednesday, April 17 to play Thomas More College. Start time is set for 4 p.m.