Mount Gilead’s Hayden Somerlot connects with a Centerburg pitch in his team’s Tuesday game against the Trojans.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
The Centerburg baseball team was able to take advantage of seemingly every opportunity they received at Mount Gilead in a Tuesday evening baseball game.
The Trojans picked up 15 hits, drew six walks and also were the beneficiary of six Indian errors in taking a 15-2 win in a five-inning contest. Indian head coach Mark Kennon noted that he has a young team that is going through growing pains as they attempt to get games played.
“We’re young,” he said. “We graduated our whole infield last year. All the kids are new and they’re all learning their spots. We’re a young team. It’s a learning curve. We’ve only played eight games now and have had nine cancellations. They more they play, the better they’re be. I just tell them to keep fighting.”
Centerburg jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Mount Gilead even had their first at-bat, with three of those runs coming with two outs. They would add two scores, both with two outs, in the second frame and then erupted for seven in the third to make it a 13-0 score.
During that stretch, the only inning Mount Gilead was able to generate anything on the bases was the second. Cameron Vickers and Kyle St. Clair opened with back-to-back singles. However, Centerburg would be able to get Vickers out on a steal attempt. While Wyatt Young would draw a walk to put two on with one out, the Indians would not be able to score.
However, they would have better luck generating offense in the final innings of the game. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to make up for Centerburg’s fast start.
“They hit the ball; they hit it hard; they hit it in play,” said Kennon. “We threw strikes, they just found the spots. We put the ball in play the last couple innings. We hit the ball hard, but they came right out the gate.”
Gage Baker opened the MG half of the fourth with a single and then stole second. With two outs, Young drew another walk and Mason Barnum was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Kaden St. Clair then singled to put two runs on the board for MG.
After Centerburg scored twice in the fifth inning, Mount Gilead would get back-to-back singles by Cole Fricke and Baker with one out in the bottom of the inning, but would not be able to tally the necessary runs to extend the contest.
The Indians finished with six singles, two by Baker, in the game. Fricke and Hayden Pangborn split the pitching duties, with Fricke suffering the loss. Kennon noted that his team finished the game strongly, but needs to play that way consistently.
“I told them one positive was the last two innings, it was 2-2,” he said. “We came out. They didn’t change their line-up, they didn’t sub anyone out. The same pitcher was there, the same defense was there. We just started hitting the ball, but unfortunately, it was too late. That’s something they have to learn from. It’s a seven-inning game.”
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
