Centre splits final doubleheader with Franklin College
The Centre College baseball team played its final games of the season this weekend in a doubleheader series against Franklin College. The games were played in the afternoon at Wright Field in Danville, Ky on Saturday, May 5. The Colonels won the first game by shutting Franklin College out but lost the second game in a longer, higher scoring game.
The Colonels won the first game 1-0 by scoring in the opening inning. Senior Kyle Rakes (Ashland, Ky.) drove in the only run of the game when he singled to get senior Eric Moore (Bowling Green, Ky.) home. Centre was able to keep Franklin scoreless the entire game to preserve the lead.
Senior Johnny Karnes earned the win for the Colonels as he pitched the entire game. He allowed no runs off five hits and struck three batters out.
Four Centre batters had hits in the game. Rakes led the pack by having multiple hits and driving in the only run of the game.
The second game of the series started off in a similar fashion as the Colonels again scored and took the lead after the opening inning. Sophomore Jake Jones (Griffin, Ga.) batted in junior Ben Jeffers (New Albany, Ohio) for the first run of the game. Franklin came back in the top of the second inning to tie the game 1-1. Franklin attempted to pull away from Centre in the top of the fourth when it scored two runs but Centre rallied and tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the inning. Jones reached home after a pitching error and senior Andy Placido drove in sophomore Jeffrey Williams (Knoxville, Tenn.) for the second run. Centre slipped in the top of the fifth though and let six runs in for Franklin to take the lead 9-3. The Colonels brought in two runs to begin to close the gap in the bottom of the fifth. Williams brought in Rakes and Moore for two runs after he singled. Centre then shutout Franklin in the final two innings of the game. Losing 9-5 Centre scored one run in the bottom of the sixth. Moore singled to bring in Jeffers. Centre's offense kept pressing Franklin until the final innings of the game. Centre scored two more runs in the bottom of the seventh before Franklin stopped the comeback, leaving Centre one run short of tieing the game. The final runs came in when Placido singled to get Williams home and Jeffers drove in junior Kevin McGee (Louisville, Ky.).
Junior John Herbert (Louisville, Ky.) started on the mound for the Colonels. He allowed seven runs off nine hits and had one strikeout. He was replaced by senior Lance Sizemore (Batavia, Ohio) who pitched for part of an inning. He allowed two runs off one hit and also struck out one batter. Junior Jarrod Williams (Carrollton, Ky.) came in to pitch the final two innings of the game. He allowed no runs off one hit and struck out one batter.
Seven Centre batters had hits in the game. Moore, Jones and freshmen Kai Leathers (Franklin, Ky.) all had multiple hits in the game. Jeffrey Williams and Placido drove in multiple runners throughout the game.
The Colonels end the season 17-25 and 7-8 in SCAC play.
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