DANVILLE, Ky. – Centre baseball wrapped up its series against Berry this weekend, finishing a halted game from Saturday night with a 7-5 win before taking the rubber match with a 5-2 victory.
Game 1: Centre 7, Berry 5
- Just as they had done in the opening game of the series, the Vikings got on the board in the opening inning with three straight two-out singles and tacked on two more in third to take a 3-0 lead.
- In the bottom of the third, Centre put runners on the corners after
Baylor Woodall was hit by a pitch and executed a perfect hit and run after
Aaron Lopez went the other way for a base hit.
Ben Prather and
Ayden Lohr delivered consecutive RBI singles and the Colonels cut the margin to 3-2.
- Lopez made it a brand new ballgame in the next inning as he belted an enormous home run over the left field fence to tie the score at 3-3.
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TJ Schira quickly retired the first two Berry hitters in the sixth before lightning entered the area and the game was halted until 9 AM on Sunday. When play resumed, Schira returned to the mound having thrown just seven pitches the previous day and recorded a strikeout to end the inning.
- In Centre's first trip to the plate on day 2, the Colonels loaded the bases as Woodall was hit by the pitch again, sandwiched between walks by
Chase Austin and Lopez. A two-base error by the Vikings allowed a pair of Centre runners to score, but the Colonels continued the rally as Prather walked to load the bases again.
Jonah Porter and
Evan Weyler then worked bases loaded walks for two more RBIs and Centre took a 7-3 lead entering the final inning.
- Berry recorded a two-out rally of their own in the seventh on two singles and a double, and a walk put the go-ahead run at the plate, but Schira dug deep and struck out the last hitter of the game to secure the win.
Game 2: Centre 5, Berry 2
- The first four innings went by quickly as starter
Andrew Zimmerman faced the minimum amount of batters after some excellent plays by the Centre defense.
- In the bottom of the fourth, Woodall kept the inning alive with a double into the gap. Centre then got on the board as Woodall hustled home on a Lopez base hit for a 1-0 Centre lead.
- The Centre offense came to life in the fifth as they started a run when Lohr put down a perfect bunt for a single. Porter hit a fly ball that bounced over the center fielder's head and went all the way to the wall for an RBI triple. After a walk to Weyler put runners on the corners, the Colonels executed the squeeze play as
Graham Johnson laid down the bunt and Porter beat the throw home for a 3-0 lead. After the runners advanced on a wild pitch, Woodall brought them in with a two-run double and Centre held a 5-0 advantage.
- The Vikings scored runs in each of the next two innings to narrow the gap to 5-2. With one out in the seventh and runners on first and second,
Isaac Rone relieved Zimmerman and got out of the inning unscathed.
- Rone again got himself into some trouble in the eighth as he faced runners on second and third with one out, but the freshman again got out of the jam with a strikeout and a groundout to maintain the 5-2 lead.
- Berry went down in order in the ninth as Rone got the 27th out with a backwards K to end it.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORES
- Centre scored all four of their runs in the sixth inning of game 1 without a hit, doing so on five walks, a hit by pitch and an error.
- Zimmerman had his best start of the season in game 2, allowing just two runs and five hits in 6.1 innings with five strikeouts. Rone picked up his first career save with 2.2 innings of work and just one hit allowed with three timely strikeouts.
- Lopez led the way at the plate with four hits across the final two games.
NEXT UP
Centre baseball will return to action on Apr. 18 with the final home series of the regular season against the Sewanee Tigers.
