ROME, Ga. – Centre baseball dropped a pair of games Saturday at Berry in their final Southern Athletic Association doubleheader, falling by scores of 8-4 and 10-1 as the Vikings totaled 30 base hits.
Centre slides to 23-14 with a 9-11 record in the SAA, sitting fifth in the league standings. The host Vikings improve to 27-13 and 13-8 in-conference.
HIGHLIGHTS: BERRY 8, CENTRE 4
Berry jumped on Centre early in Saturday's opener, scoring six runs across the opening four innings.
Vikings starter Dylan Beasley held the Colonels off the board until the fifth, when Centre was able to manufacture a run with two outs.
Will Kirk hit an infield single, stole second, and came around on
Drew Schacht's RBI single.
Centre chased Beasley and cut the deficit to 6-3 with two more in the seventh.
Jordan Gunter drove home Kirk with a single to right, and
Chris Esselman drew a walk with the bases loaded to bring in
Jake Holloway.
Berry scored twice more in the bottom of the seventh, pushing its lead back to 8-3.
Schacht delivered a sacrifice fly in the eighth, but Centre couldn't get any closer.
Nick Hoffman threw four innings in the start, and
Hogan Brownley tossed three in relief. Carson Werrman struck out two in a scoreless eighth inning.
HIGHLIGHTS: BERRY 10, CENTRE 1 (7 inn.)
A big third inning for the Vikings helped the hosts open up a 6-0 lead in the series finale. Berry totaled seven hits in the inning, batting around the lineup to take command of the game.
A two-run homerun from Beasley highlighted another scoring stretch from the home side, leading to a 10-0 advantage through five complete.
Garrett West proved effective in the start for Berry, as well, holding Centre to one hit through five innings.
The Colonels finally got to West in the sixth, with Kirk and Schacht starting the inning with consecutive singles. Kirk would score on a passed ball to break the shutout, but Centre would leave the bases stranded.
Schacht (54) and Kirk (52) both continued to inch closer to the single-season record for hits of 59, set by Eric Moore in 2006 and matched by Jeffrey Williams in 2009. Schacht also sits at 208 career hits after the weekend, tying the program record originally set by Moore.
UP NEXT
Centre closes the regular season at home Monday, April 22, with first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m.
