DANVILLE, Ky. – The Centre baseball team advanced to the winners' bracket in the SAA Tournament as they defeated the Sewanee Tigers 11-8 in an offensive battle at Gary Wright Field on Friday night.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
- The visiting Tigers were quick to get on the board as a bases loaded hit by pitch put Sewanee on top 1-0 after the first inning.
- In the second, the Centre offense made a furious rally with two outs.
Aaron Lopez started off with a walk, and then advanced to second on a base hit by
Karson Thompson. Another shot up the middle by
Conner Jackson plated the first run to tie the game.
- After
Josh Cunningham was hit by a pitch to load the bases,
Ben Prather unloaded them with a double into the gap to make it 4-1 in favor of Centre. The Colonels added to the lead as
Evan Weyler drove in Prather with a base hit and then stole second. A single up the middle by
Michael Lynch capped off the six-run rally and put Centre up by five.
- Things stayed that way until Sewanee strung together a run in the fifth, scoring three times on a hit by pitch and four hits.
Zach Heavern came on in relief with runners on second and third and got two strikeouts in a row to preserve Centre's 6-4 lead.
- The Colonels responded in the bottom of the fifth with five straight hits.
Jamie Laframboise led off with a double down the line and a single from Lopez put runners on the corners. An RBI bunt single from Thompson put Centre on top 7-4. After a double by Jackson, Thompson beat the throw home on a Cunningham ground ball to make it 8-4. Prather added another RBI to his total with a sacrifice fly to score Jackson, putting Centre back up by five runs.
- Sewanee got two of the runs back in the sixth on a clutch two-out single, but Centre had one more two-out rally left in them as well as
Ayden Lohr went the other way with a base hit to score Prather and Weyler, once again making it a five-run game at 11-6.
- The Tigers hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth, but Heavern finished the long relief outing by forcing a ground ball for the 27th out of the game.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Prather picked up his ninth victory of the season and also led the Colonels with four RBIs.
- Thompson and Jackson each finished with a game high three hits.
NEXT UP
Centre will play Rhodes in the winner's bracket of the SAA Tournament at 10 AM on Friday.
