CLEVELAND - The Centre baseball team entered Sunday at the NCAA Tournament needing to beat host Case Western Reserve twice to advance. In game 1, Centre took an early lead but lost it late, falling by a score of 12-9 to cap off their 2025 season at 32-11.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
- The Colonels got off to a great start in the opening inning.
Ben Prather worked a leadoff walk and a base hit by
Ayden Lohr put runners on the corners. A single up the middle by
Graham Johnson put the first run on the board for the Colonels and then a walk to
Aaron Lopez loaded the bases.
- Centre drove in two more runs in the first inning without a swing of the bat as
Baylor Woodall and
Chase Austin walked with the bases loaded to increase the lead to 3-0.
- In the second, Centre against put the first two runners on the corners following singles by Prather and Lohr. A sacrifice fly by
Evan Weyler put the Colonels on top 4-0.
- The Colonels added to the lead in the third as
Baylor Woodall ripped a double down the line and ended up on third after a wild pitch. A deep fly ball by Austin resulted in a productive out as Woodall scored on the play and the Colonels led by five.
- After Case hit a two-run homer in the third to make it a 5-2 game, Centre got it back with a two-out rally in the fifth as
Jamison Craig walked and
JT Weisberg singled to put runners on the corners yet again. After Weisberg stole second, Prather delivered a clutch base hit for a pair of RBIs and a 7-2 Centre lead.
- CWRU chipped away at the lead again in the fifth with three runs to make it 7-5. After a scoreless sixth, Austin led off the Centre seventh with a double and was 90 feet away from scoring after a wild pitch. Craig went the other way for a base hit to increase Centre's lead to 8-5.
- In the bottom of the seventh, the Case offense came alive as they took the lead with six runs on four hits, three walks and a hit by pitch to go up 11-8, with the last three runs coming with two outs.
- The Colonels stranded runners on second and third in the eighth and Case tacked on another in the bottom half of the inning. To lead off the ninth, Craig put one on the board with a solo homer, but the next three Centre hitters went down in order.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Lohr and Prather tied for a game high with three hits each. Prather, Austin and Craig all paced the Colonels with two RBIs each.
- Craig's solo home run in the ninth was his second of the year and second in three games in the NCAA Tournament.
- Weisberg had multi-hit games in all four NCAA Tournament games, finishing 8-15 for a .533 average.
- Prather and Lohr were each named to the All-Tournament team.
