BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Centre baseball hit the road to the home of a conference foe to battle in early season tournament action. The Colonels won a wild one over the Dominican Stars in the first game before knocking off the North Park Vikings in seven innings.
Game 1: Centre 11, Dominican 7
- The Stars began the game on fire, scoring six runs on eight hits and two Centre innings through the first four innings. Centre's lone offense in the early stages came in the third on an RBI single by
Josh Cunningham, but Dominican avoided further damage as the Colonels left the bases loaded.
- In the fifth,
Patrick Hope got one back for the Colonels as he led off with a solo homer down the right field line. Three straight Stars singles in the bottom half of the inning put Dominican back on top by a score of 7-2.
- Centre began an eighth inning for the ages as Hope was hit by a pitch. Three consecutive base hits by Cunningham,
Teddy Holloway and
Mark Pyburn plated the first run of the inning, loaded the bases and forced a pitching change for the Stars.
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Luc Morgan worked a bases loaded walk to cut the deficit to 7-4.
Perry Nadreau then laced a base hit up the middle to drive in two more. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, and Morgan eventually scored the tying run on an RBI groundout by
Jordan Gunter.
- Now with two outs,
Dillon Di Iorio walked, as did Hope, once again loading the bases and prompting yet another Dominican pitching change. With the new pitcher now in, Cunningham drew a walk to bring in Nadreau for the go-ahead run. Holloway came up for the second time in the inning and ripped a double into the right center field gap to cap off a nine-run frame, taking Centre from down five to up four at 11-7.
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Mason King shut the door on the Stars the rest of the way, sealing the comeback victory for the Colonels.
Game 2: Centre 13, North Park 2
- Both offenses were held in check until the fourth inning when Centre broke through. Holloway was hit by a pitch and
Karson Thompson ripped a base hit to left. A North Park error put
Will Ahrens on first to load the bases.
Micah Cowen, who started game 1 on the mound, came up to the plate and lined a base hit to the opposite field to plate the first two runs. Jamie LaFramboise made it 3-0 after an RBI groundout and the Colonels had drawn first blood.
- The Vikings finally got to starter
Jess Miller in the fifth, scoring a pair of unearned runs following an error and a passed ball.
- In the top half of the sixth, the Centre bats responded.
Will Ahrens led off with a base hit and LaFramboise singled down the third base line. With runners on the corners and two outs. Pyburn smashed a triple to right field to score two runs. Hope doubled into the gap to make it 6-2, and then after loading the bases, Thompson was hit by a pitch and Ahrens walked on four pitches to give Centre a six-run lead.
- The Centre bats had another big inning in the seventh. LaFramboise, Gunter and Pyburn hit consecutive singles to start off the frame, and then Hope worked a bases loaded walk to plate the first run. Cunningham drove in two with a single through the left side, and then Holloway, on fire for the doubleheader, doubled down the left field line to score two more runs and put the Colonels up 13-2.
- Reliever
David Sickles picked off a runner on second to record the final out in the seventh inning and seal the doubleheader sweep.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORES
- In the eighth inning of game 1 against Dominican, the Colonels scored nine runs on six hits, four walks, one wild pitch and one hit by pitch. They sent 16 hitters to the plate in the inning.
- King was outstanding in long relief, inheriting a 7-2 deficit in the seventh inning and only allowing one hit in his three innings of work, striking out four Dominican batters.
- Five different Centre players finished with two hits in game 1. Holloway led all players with three RBIs, with Cunningham and Nadreau each adding two.
- In game 2, the Colonels used 15 hits to score their 13 runs. Holloway and Pyburn led the way with three hits each.
- Five Centre players drove in two runs in the game against North Park.
- Miller and Sickles were excellent on the mound in game 2, combining to allow zero earned runs and just eight hits across seven innings.
- Centre's four straight wins represent the longest winning streak for the team since the Colonels opened the 2020 season with five consecutive victories.
NEXT UP
The Colonels will wrap up their first tournament of the season with a big Sunday matchup against the Adrian Bulldogs, ranked fifth and eighth in the respective Division III baseball polls.
