The Cardington baseball team put forth a strong performance in earning an 11-1 win over Centerburg on Wednesday.

The host Pirates put up two runs in both the first and second innings before tallying five in the third to blow the game open. Meanwhile, on the mound, senior Dillon Minturn pitched a six-inning complete game, only giving up a pair of hits to the Trojans.

“The start of our season was a grind,” said Cardington head coach Ryan Goetzman. “He (Minturn) had to throw against some really good people and really good teams. He’s getting in the groove now and it was good to see him come out and have a great outing today.”

Early in the game, against Centerburg starter Daniel Lemaster, Cardington showed a lot of patience at the plate. Minturn and A.J. Hall both drew first inning walks to put two on with one out. A single by Wyatt Wade loaded the bases. Then, with two outs, Denton Garrison walked to give the Pirates their first run. A Merek McClure ground was then misplayed to stake Cardington to a two-run lead.

Goetzman noted that his players are improving their approaches at the plate.

“The guys have done a really good job of figuring that out and learning,” he said. “We talked a lot about making adjustments in the last week or two. They’re starting to do that and, as you saw today, it paid off.”

The team added two more runs in the second inning. Minturn got a one-out double and was driven in by a Wyatt Denney single. With two outs, Denney would cross home plate after a passed ball.

Minturn would face his only real trouble of the day in the third inning, as Jonah Gribben opened the frame with a double and Hayden Simmons reached on a bunt single. With runners on second and third, a groundout by Gavin Collins brought in a run to make it 4-1.

However, the Pirates would use a strong bottom of the third to take a commanding lead.

With one out, McClure drew a walk and Logan Reynolds doubled to put runners on second and third. A double by Cadin Dewitt scored two runs. Minturn would then be hit by a pitch. With runners on the corners, Minturn swiped second and a Trojan error while attempting to throw him out led to Dewitt scoring. Denney would then be walked and, with two outs, Wade made it a 9-1 game with a two-run double.

Goetzman said that he feels his team has the ability to get hits from anywhere in the line-up — something that was on display in this game.

“I think we have a really deep line-up of guys who can score at any point in time and put pressure on,” he said. “They’re continuing to learn the game and grow, which is a lot of fun to coach because we now can do more stuff offensively and find different avenues to put pressure on people.”

The score would remain 9-1 until the bottom of the sixth, when Cardington got two runs to end the contest. The Pirates had the bases loaded with two outs, when Dewitt was hit by a pitch to make it 10-1. Minturn then finished the game with a run-scoring single.

With two wins in a three-day period against the Trojans, Goetzman is hoping the team can use that momentum to continue playing well as the season progresses.

“We play the ‘Team up North” (Mount Gilead) next,” he said. “Any time you can roll into that with a little bit of confidence… Springboarding off of these two games is super important.”

Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS