CAL Baseball

The Centurion’s ran into a buzz-saw facing the Male Bulldogs Monday night. In the top of the 1^st inning Male jumped to a 4-0 lead off of starting pitcher Mitch Wiley. CAL scored one in the 2^nd inning on consecutive singles by Neal Straton, Matt Carter and Travis Shutt’s RBI single. In the third Jared McKinney singled but was thrown out at 2^nd on a Mitch Wiley fielder’s choice. Mike Eichberger came in to pinch-run for Wiley and scored on Matt Carters RBI single. Male jumped on CAL for six more runs in the 4^th and one in the 5^th inning to seal away the victory. Their were some off the field distractions in the 5^th inning when someone lit several brush fires along the Gene Snyder Freeway including two fires next to the CAL baseball field on the outside fence which temporarily saw smoke blanketing the field. The game continued as fire trucks were called to douse out the flames. Offensively for CAL Matt Carter, Neal Straton and Travis Shutt each collected 2-hits for the Centurion’s.

CAL defeats J-Town 9-8 in an extra innings thriller

The Centurion’s squared off with District rival J-Town Tuesday coming away a 9-8 victory in 9-innings of play. J-town jumped on starting pitcher Andy Wood for 2 runs in the top of the 1^st. CAL scored one in the 2^nd when Mitch Wiley reached safely on a catchers interference call. Matt Carter singled and Davis Rhodes delivered a 2-out RBI single. CAL scored twice in the 3^rd – Chris Kinney and Travis Shutt both singled. Wood reached safely to first on a fielder’s choice. Nick Jackson hit a sacrifice fly to center field driving in Kinney and Merritt Mowery capped the inning with an RBI single driving in Wood to give CAL the lead 3-2. In the 4^th inning Carter singled again and was driven home on a Chris Kinney single. J-town punched 3 runs across in the top of the 5^th and 2 more runs in the 6^th. With J-town leading 7-4 in the bottom of the 7^th inning CAL pushed through 3-runs to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Wood reached on a single; Jackson doubled and Mowery walked to load the bases. Mike Eichberger hit a clutch RBI single and Davis Rhodes delivered another clutch single driving in 2 runs. In the 8^th inning CAL and J-town each scored a run. With daylight running out in the 9^th inning Eichberger singled, Rhodes reached on a fielders choice, Tim Anderson came off the bench to lay down a perfect sacrifice bunt advancing both runners. Kinney was intentionally walked and Shutt delivered the game winning RBI single connecting with a soft liner to right field. Neil Freibert pitched 2 innings in relief and Matt Meredith pitched the final 2 innings to record the victory.

The Centurions playing a night game at St. X went down in defeat 5-2. It was an excellent test for the Centurions as they were facing the third ranked team in the state. Neil Freibert got the call on the mound for CAL and took the loss surrendering 4-runs on 6-hits in 2+ innings of work. Mike Eichberger entered the game in relief with two runners on and no outs in the bottom of the 3^rd inning and was able to get the next three batters out to end the St. X scoring threat. CAL picked up its two runs in the third inning. David Risher was hit by a pitch to lead things off. Chris Kinney hit a sharp single up the middle and Travis Shutt hit a bloop single behind 3^rd base to load the bases. St. X made a pitching change and Andy Wood greeted the St. X reliever with a single to left field driving in Risher. Nick Jackson followed with a sacrifice fly driving in Kinney for CAL. ST. X added one insurance in the bottom half of the 6^th inning.

Playing at Nelson County High School in Bardstown the Centurions played the first of two games scheduled for the day and defeated Western Hills in 9 innings. CAL got on the scoreboard first in the 2^nd inning. Merritt Mowery tripled to right centerfield and scored on Neal Straton’s 6-3 ground out. Western Hills tied the game in the 4^th inning off of starting pitcher Neil Freibert - 5 IP, 1R, 2H, 2K who had an excellent day on the mound. Defensive gems were turned in the 4^th inning by CAL with catcher Nick Jackson throwing out a runner making a steal attempt at 2^nd base and another runner was thrown out at 3^rd base on a Mowery to Rhodes to Wood relay as the runner was attempting to stretch a double into a triple. In the bottom of the 9^th inning Andy Wood singled and scored the winning run on Nick Jackson’s game winning RBI double to left centerfield Mike Eichberger pitched the final four innings to collect the win for the Centurions.

After playing Western Hills High School down in Nelson County, the Centurions packed their baseball bags and traveled up to Southern High School for game two of their doubleheader. Andy Wood 1R, 6H, 2K and 1BB got the start on the mound and the win for CAL. In the bottom of the first inning Southern scored their only run against the visiting Centurions. CAL got two runs on the scoreboard in the top of the 3^rd inning. Tim Anderson singled and later scored on Travis Shutt’s RBI single. Andy Wood followed with an RBI single and Nick Jackson hit a shot to the left centerfield fence that bounced over the fence for a ground rule double. In the 4^th inning Anderson singled again and scored from 1^st base on an overthrow by the Southern 3^rd baseman attempting to throw out Mitch Wiley who had grounded to third. In the 5^th Shutt singled and scored on Wood’s RBI double to the left centerfield fence. Matt Meredith 0R, 1H, 1K, and 2BB pitched the 7^th inning in a relief appearance. Offensively for CAL Tim Anderson and Andy Wood each collected 3 base hits. Wood and Jackson each had a double and Travis Shutt had a pair of hits for the Centurion’s.