DANVILLE, Ky. – The Centre baseball team returned to Gary Wright Field at Fishman Park for an in-state battle against Spalding. Centre used two big offensive innings to take a 12-8 victory.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
- The Colonels struck quickly in the bottom of the first.
Mark Pyburn singled and
Josh Cunningham walked to put two men on.
Patrick Hope and
Karson Thompson then lined consecutive base hits up the middle to give Centre a 2-0 lead.
- Spalding got a run back after a parade of walks in the second, but
Mason King entered the game in a bases loaded jam and pitched out of it to preserve a 2-1 lead for the Colonels.
- In the second, Centre batted around for a huge offensive inning.
Jamie Laframboise worked a leadoff walk and advanced to third after
Will Kempf reached on an error.
Jordan Gunter laced a double into the left center field gap to plate two runs and later scored after an error allowed
Mark Pyburn to reach second. Two more runs scored on singles by Cunningham and Thompson to put the Colonels on top by six runs.
- The Eagles chipped away at the Centre lead with a run in the fourth and another in the fifth before the Colonels answered back with a huge with a big sixth inning.
- Cunningham led off the sixth by legging out a bunt single. Hope followed by ripping a triple into the gap for the Colonels' first run of the inning. Wilson then drove him in with an RBI single up the middle. Following a wild pitch,
Luc Morgan singled for another RBI. Laframboise then launched a homer over the big wall in left field to cap off a five-run burst.
- Spalding did not go away quietly, scoring two runs in the seventh and three in the eighth. In the ninth, the Golden Eagles loaded the bases with one out, but Morgan, moving from third base to the mound, fanned the final two batters to preserve the win.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Centre's 16 hits were the second most by the Colonels in a game this season and the most since a run rule victory at Millsaps on Mar. 5.
- Nine different Centre players drove in runs in the victory, with Gunter, Hope, Laframboise and Thompson each driving in two.
- The Colonels also utilized nine different pitchers, with freshman
Cam Tegge earning his first career win in his first career appearance.
- Pyburn led all players with four hits, with Thompson adding three to go along with two RBIs.
NEXT UP
The Colonels will welcome Birmingham-Southern to Gary Wright Field at Fishman Park for a weekend series, starting with a Saturday doubleheader.
