DANVILLE, Ky. - Thanks to excellent pitching and timely hitting, the Centre baseball team swept the Berry Vikings in a critical conference doubleheader on Saturday, winning by scores of 4-1 and 4-3. The sweep put head coach
Drew Briese '00 at 222 career wins, surpassing the program record previously held by his coach, Centre Athletics Hall of Famer Ed Rall.
"Milestones like this are only possible with the commitment, love, and support of so many people," said Briese. "Centre athletics has put a great deal of trust in our staff and we work daily to fulfill their good faith. I've been blessed with dedicated and hard working coaches on our staff. For 10 years players and their families have committed to making Centre baseball a championship program. And, lastly, my family has given their full support to our efforts. I'm grateful for everyone who has been involved in this journey."
Game 1: Centre 4, Berry 1
- After an uneventful first two innings, the Colonels got on the board in the bottom of the third.
Baylor Woodall led off by reaching on an error and advanced to scoring position after a passed ball. With two outs,
Ayden Lohr belted a triple off the wall in the opposite field gap to put the Colonels on top 1-0.
- In the fifth it was Woodall who triggered another rally for the Colonels as he worked a one-out walk and was sacrificed to second.
Ben Prather delivered a clutch hit to drive in the Centre third baseman and after Lohr walked,
Chase Austin smacked a base hit through the right side to make it a 3-0 game.
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Isaac Rone induced a double play to get out of a jam in the seventh and recorded an out in the eighth before giving way to
Zach Heavern with a runner on first. The next two Berry hitters singled to cut the lead to 3-1, but Heavern pitched his way out of trouble to keep the Centre lead at two runs.
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Wesley Taylor led off the Centre eighth with a double down the line and eventually scored on a sac fly from Woodall to give the Colonels an insurance run. Heavern needed just eight pitches to set the Vikings down in order in the ninth to lock up the save.
Game 2: Centre 4, Berry 3
- The Vikings used small ball in the second to score the game's first run, going up 1-0 on two walks, a sac bunt and a sac fly.
- Centre answered back in the third, putting runners on second and third after a base hit by Austin and a double off the wall by Weyler.
Aaron Lopez made it a 1-1 game with an RBI groundout.
- In the fifth, Berry led off with two straight singles to put runners on the corners. With two outs, the Vikings connected on two more singles to take a 3-1 lead.
- The score remained 3-1 until the bottom of the seventh when Austin led off with a blast to right field for a solo homer, cutting the deficit in half at 3-2. Singles by Weyler and Lopez and a wild pitch put runners on second and third when
Matthew Maggard tied the game with a base hit. The Colonels then took the lead when Woodall hit a fly ball deep enough to drive in Lopez.
- In the eighth,
Tommy Severson forced a huge double play to keep the Vikings off the board. Berry got the tying run on base with two outs in the ninth, but Severson induced a groundout to get the 27th out of the game and his sixth win of the year.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORES
- Rone had the best starting performance of his career to get the win in game 1, striking out nine batters in 7.1 innings while allowing just the one run in the eighth.
- Another milestone came in the field as Prather connected on his 200th career hit in game 2. He is one of three Centre players ever to reach the 200-hit mark in his career and is 14 hits away from becoming the Colonels' all-time hits leader.
NEXT UP
Centre will go for the series sweep against Berry on Sunday, with the first pitch scheduled for 12 PM.
