Senior pitcher Joe Nash (Elizabethtown, Ky.) threw a complete game and five different players drove in at least one run as the Centre College baseball team knocked off No. 6 Rowan University Saturday, March 17 in a game played at Piedmont College in Demorest, Ga.
The Profs' scored a run in the second and another in the third to take an early 2-0 lead off Nash and the Colonels after three innings.
Centre had only one player reach base through the first three innings, a walk to junior outfielder Jason Osterman(Monroe, Ohio), but broke through in the top of the fourth. Sophomore outfielder Sean Cole(Teaneck, N.J.) walked and sophomore outfielder Cody Nelson (Joelton, Tenn.) singled to put runners on first and second with nobody out.
Senior catcher Cameron Fishman (Northridge, Calif.) then singled down the right field line to score Cole and send Nelson to third. Sophomore third baseman Charlie Holland (Knoxville, Tenn.) would hit into a fielders' choice, but Nelson scored on the play to tie the game at 2-2.
A balk moved Holland to second and a ground out put him at third with two outs. Freshman infielder Phil Brilli (Powell, Ohio) followed with a single to score Holland and give Centre a 3-2 lead.
The Colonels added another run in the fifth when Fishman scored junior outfielder Danny Freudiger(Cincinnati, Ohio) on a sacrifice fly, and then put two more on the board in the sixth on a two-run ground-rule double to the left field corner by junior infielder Aaron Ammann (Winnetka, Calif.) for a 6-2 advantage.
Osterman drove in the seventh run on a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and Nash and the Centre defense did the rest.
After allowing four hits through the first three innings, Nash did not allow a hit the rest of the way to record his first collegiate nine-inning complete game of his career. The senior hurler improved to 3-0 on the year by allowing two runs on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
Fishman paced the Centre offensive attack. The senior backstop finished three for four with two runs driven in, while Holland finished with two hits. Nelson scored two runs and Ammann drove in two in the victory.
The win is the first for the Colonels against a ranked team since the 2009 season when Centre defeated then No. 2 Millsaps College 4-2 in the first round of the SCAC Tournament.
The Colonels, now 9-8 overall, will return to action Sunday, March 18 with a game against No. 7 Piedmont College. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. in Demorest, Ga.