ROME, Ga. — The Berry Vikings baseball team closed out the regular season on a strong note with a doubleheader sweep of Centre on Senior Day. The Vikings secure the No. 3 seed in the SAA tournament.
Berry ends the regular season with a 27-13 record overall and 13-8 in the conference. Pitchers Dylan Beasley and Garrett West combined to dominate the Colonels on Saturday afternoon. West shined through six innings of work, surrendering one run on four hits and striking out seven. Beasley threw seven strong innings, striking out five only allowing three runs.
GAME ONE:
- Berry struck first in the bottom of the first inning with a sacrifice fly from Casey Whitaker. Zack Walch scored to give the Vikings a 1-0 advantage
- Berry added another run in the second inning when Devin Post scored on fielder's choice to make it 2-0
- The Vikings' bats came alive in the third inning as they plated three runs, to take a 5-0 lead, highlighted by an RBI single from Post
- Berry pushed across another run in the fourth inning as Spence Johns came across to score on a fielder's choice to give the Vikings a 6-0 lead
- Centre fought back in the fifth pushing across one run in the fifth and two in the seventh to cut Berry's lead to 6-3
- Berry would strike back in the bottom of the seventh with two runs, as Zach Huie scored on a ground out from Reeve Holley and an RBI double from Walch put the Vikings up 8-3
- Centre would add one more before bowing out making the final 8-4 in Berry's favor
GAME TWO:
- The Vikings started quickly when Quinn Smith scored on an error to give Berry a 1-0 lead
- Berry broke the bats out again in the third inning, scoring five runs with the big play being a RBI single off the bat of Weston Bray to make it 6-0
- The Vikings added two more runs in the fourth inning with RBI singles from Post and Evan Romeo to make it 8-0
- In the fifth inning, Dylan Beasley hit a two-run home run to extend the Vikings lead to 10-0
- Centre would score their only run of the game in the sixth, making it 10-1 final
BERRY STANDOUTS:
- Zack Walch: 4-for-9, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 3 R
- Spence Johns: 5-for-9, 2 2B, RBI, 3 R
- Dylan Beasley: 4-for-8, HR, 2 RBI, 4 R; W (4-0), 7 IP, 3 ER, 5 K
- Devin Post: 5-for-9, 2 2B, 3 RBI, R
- Garrett West: W(5-2), 6 IP, R, 4 H, 7 K
UP NEXT:
Berry will face No. 6 Oglethorpe on April 25 in Birmingham, Ala., to open SAA tournament play.