ROME, Ga. – The Centre baseball team opened Southern Athletic Association Tournament play against top seed Berry, who etered the tournament ranked no. 13 in the latest D3baseball.com poll. Behind a complete game shutout from Hogan Brownley and a balanced effort on offense, the Colonels cruised to an 8-0 victory in one of their most complete team performances of the season.
 
HIGHLIGHTS
 
- The early stages of the game produced a pitching duel between Brownley and Berry's Ben Coker. The Vikings got their best shot at scoring in the bottom of the third as they loaded the bases, but Brownley pitched out of the jam to preserve the scoreless tie.
- The game remained scoreless until the sixth inning. Jamie Laframboise led off with a base hit and scored following a double into the gap by Jordan Gunter. With Gunter on third after an error, Patrick Hope's sacrifice fly brought the speedy Centre outfielder home, putting the Colonels up 2-0.
- Centre tacked on an insurance run in the seventh as J. Ross reached on an error, was sacrificed to second, made it to third on a passed ball and later scored after an RBI single from Laframboise.
- In the eighth inning, following a Berry pitching change, Hope emphatically welcomed the new Viking pitcher into the game with a leadoff homer. The Colonels would load the bases later in the inning and score another run on a sacrifice fly by Will Ahrens to go up 5-0.
- The Colonels added more cushion in the top of the ninth as Gunter led off with a hit, stole second and later scored on an infield single by Hope. RBIs by Chris Esselman and Joshua Cunningham capped off the rally and Centre entered the bottom of the ninth up by eight runs.
- After giving up a leadoff single, Brownley induced a double play and a groundout to finish off a masterful pitching performance.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
 
- Brownley pitched the finest game of his career, going the distance and allowing just four hits and one walk while striking out four in nine brilliant innings and 118 pitches.
- The Colonels finished with 12 hits in the game to hand Coker his first loss of the season. Gunter led the way with three hits, with Esselman, Cunningham and Laframboise each adding two.
- Six different Centre players drove in runs in the game, led by Hope with three.
- The Berry offense, which came into the tournament ranked first in the SAA in nearly every statistical category, managed to put just three runners in scoring position against Brownley, and only one after the bases loaded escape in the third.
- Today was just the second time Berry was shut out in a game this season, with the other one coming in a seven-inning game against Centre's Carson Werrmann on Mar. 13.
 
NEXT UP
 
Centre baseball will move on to the winners' bracket in the SAA Tournament. The Colonels will face Birmingham-Southern on Friday at noon.