Centre baseball opens with 13-7 win over Mount St. Joseph
For the third straight season, the Centre College baseball team opened the season with a win in its first game, defeating the College of Mount St. Joseph 13-7 in a non-conference game, Saturday, Feb. 24 in Danville, Ky.
Following a scoreless 1-2-3 inning by the Lions, the Colonels wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard. After a pair of walks and a single to open the bottom of the first, senior outfielder Kyle Rakes (Ashland, Ky.) singled to right field to drive in the season's first run.
Sophomore third baseman Jake Jones (Griffin, Ga.) followed with an RBI single to up the lead to 2-0. Centre plated two more runs in the inning on a bases loaded walk and a throwing error by the Mount St. Joseph catcher to take a 4-0 lead after one.
The Lions (0-1) broke through in the third inning taking advantage of two Colonels errors to score two unearned runs and cut the lead to 4-2. Centre answered in the bottom half of the inning when Jones tripled with one out. Sophomore outfielder Brandon Rosen (Ashland, Ky.) then followed with his first of three singles to give Centre a 5-2 lead after three.
The Mount added a solo tally in the top of the fourth, only to see the Colonels answer with two in the bottom of the fourth and one in the fifth to extend their lead to 8-3.
After a run in the top of the sixth by the Lions, Centre answered once again, this time scoring five runs, with the big blow, a three-run double by senior first baseman Eric Moore (Bowling Green, Ky.) to push the lead to 13-4. Mount St. Joseph added three runs in the seventh, but would get no more as senior pitcher Johnny Karnes (Lebanon, Ohio) relieved junior pitcher John Herbert (Louisville, Ky.) and recorded two scoreless innings of relief to end the game.
Herbert earned his third opening day win in as many tries, going seven innings and allowing four earned runs. The junior hurler struck out four and only walked one to improve to 1-0.
Centre finished with 15 hits on the day. Moore, Jones and Rosen finished with three hits each, while junior outfielder Ben Jeffers (New Albany, Ohio), Rakes and sophomore designated hitter Jeffrey Williams (Knoxville, Ky.) added two hits apiece. Jeffers scored four runs on the day. Moore ended with four runs batted in and Jones finished a home run shy of the cycle on the first day of the season.
Centre will return to action Sunday, Feb. 25, when it hosts Earlham College in a doubleheader. First pitch of the twin-bill is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. in Danville, Ky. |
