CONWAY, Ark. – No. 12 Centre baseball showed hearts of lions, equaling the largest comeback of the season as the Colonels overcame a five-run deficit after five innings to defeat Hendrix 10-9 in the regular season finale.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
- With one out in the second,
Evan Rygalski got a rally started with a base hit.
Baylor Woodall doubled to drive in the first run of the game and eventually scored after a Hendrix wild pitch to make it 2-0.
- The Warriors had a huge second inning as a walk and five hits produced five Hendrix runs, and they tacked on another tally in the third to take a 6-2 lead.
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Ayden Lohr, swinging possibly the hottest bat in the conference at the end of the season, led off Centre's half of the fourth inning with a solo home run to narrow the margin to 6-3, but Hendrix answered the following inning with two more runs to take their largest lead of the afternoon at 8-3.
- In the top of the sixth, Lohr delivered his second consecutive solo homer to make it an 8-4 ballgame.
- Centre went down in order in the seventh before
Graham Johnson worked a one-out walk in the eighth. Following a force out,
Evan Weyler came up with a man on and cut the deficit in half with one swing as his two-run home run made it 8-6.
- Trailing 8-6 in the ninth,
Aaron Lopez led off with an opposite field base hit. After
Jamison Craig reached on an error,
Harrison Tibe beat out a bunt single and Centre loaded the bases with no outs. A fielder's choice by
Ben Prather produced the first run of the inning and with runners on second and third, Johnson went the other way with a base hit to put the Colonels on top 9-8. Centre kept the pressure on as Lohr singled and Weyler was hit by a pitch to load the bases again, and pinch hitter
Matthew Maggard drove in another one with an RBI groundout.
- In the bottom of the ninth,
Aidan Christmas quickly retired the first two Hendrix hitters before allowing the next two to reach. With runners on second and third, Lopez made a diving stop to keep a ball in the infield and while a run scored, the Centre second baseman delivered a strike to Weyler to get the dramatic 27th out of the game at the plate.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Lohr was the only Centre player with multiple hits on the day as he went 3-5. His two home runs brought his season total to 11, one off the school record set by Danny Johnson in 1997.
- With the win today, Centre sets a modern era record for winning percentage in a regular season, finishing with a .800 record.
NEXT UP
With the win and a Rhodes loss against Oglethorpe, Centre secured the no. 2 seed in the SAA Tournament. The Colonels will host the no. 7 seed in a best-of-three series on May 2-3. Game times and opponent information will be available after the completion of Sunday's conference games.
