Playing its first home game of the season after seeing weather cancel most of the early home schedule, the Centre baseball team suffered another hard-fought loss in a Southern Athletic Association game, falling 4-2 to Hendrix on Saturday at Gary Wright Field.

Junior pitcher Rob Caudill (Danville, Ky.) was saddled with the loss after yet another strong outing, striking out 10 while allowing two earned runs over 8.2 innings of work. Despite a 1.96 earned run average and 27 strikeouts in 23 innings, Caudill falls to 0-3 on the season.

The difference in the game came when Hendrix was able to break a 2-2 tie in the top half of the ninth inning. Jake Wiegand singled, followed by pinch runner Nick Land advancing to second on a ground out. Caudill came out of the game with a runner on second and two outs, but after a walk and a balk, the Warriors Seth Mobley was able to plate two runs on a base hit. Centre went down in order in the bottom half of the ninth.

The game was evenly played throughout, with each team going scoreless until putting up two runs in the sixth. Hendrix struck first when Ryan Ritz singled, advanced on an error, then scored on a wild pitch. Drew Judson, who reached base on the error, came home on an RBI double by Thomas Weber.

Though the Colonels found themselves trailing, they answered immediately in the bottom half of the inning. Charlie Grigsby (Lexington, Ky.) got the rally started with a single, followed by an Andrew Olson (Louisville, Ky.) walk. After a balk, both scored on a Trey Litsey (Louisville, Ky.) groundout followed by an Alex Richardson (Mount Washington, Ky.) single.

Hendrix starter Will Nichol earned a no decision after giving up two runs over seven innings. Cannon Shrank took the win after working a scoreless eighth, and Harley Faye picked up the save after a scoreless ninth.

The loss drops Centre to 1-8 overall and 0-7 in SAA play, while Hendrix moves to 5-8 on the season and 2-5 in the conference. Both teams are back at Gary Wright Field on Sunday for a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m.