After winning game one in walk-off fashion, the Centre College baseball team won game two 11-6 to complete a twinbill sweep of Hanover College Saturday, March 9 at Gary Wright Field in Danville, Ky.
The visiting Panthers wasted little time getting on the scoreboard in game one. Junior starting pitcher Kyle Neu (Cincinnati, Ohio) allowed a lead-off double to start the game. A ground out to second moved the runner to third, and he later scored on another double for an early 1-0 lead.
The score remained that way until the sixth when senior shortstop Aaron Ammann (Winnetka, Calif.) doubled to lead-off the inning. Sophomore third baseman Phil Brilli (Cincinnati, Ohio) put down a sacrifice bunt and reached base when the throw to third was late. Freshman outfielder Jake Johnson (Louisville, Ky.) walked to load the bases and junior outfielder Kyle Cook (Maineville, Ohio) hit into a double play, but Ammann scored to tie the game at 1-1.
Following a scoreless top of the seventh, Centre found a way to win in the bottom of the inning. Junior designated hitter Jordan Burgess (Cincinnati, Ohio) drew a lead-off walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior catcher Chris Duzyk (Mt. Sterling, Ky.). A wild pitch allowed Burgess to move to third. A walk then put runners at the corners for junior outfielder Sean Cole (Teaneck, N.J.). Cole bunted up the first base line and Burgess beat the play at the plate for the walk-off victory.
Neu, with the help of some strong defense behind him, improved to 3-0 on the season with his third consecutive complete-game effort. The junior scattered nine hits and allowed only the first-inning run for the win.
Game two got off to quite a different start than the first game. Centre held the Panthers scoreless in the first inning and then plated eight runs in the home half of the first on five hits, one Hanover error, two walks, a hit-by-pitch and a wild pitch.
The big blow was a bases-clearing triple that just missed leaving the park by freshman second baseman Forrest Goodwin (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.).
The Panthers fought back scoring five runs in their next at-bat to cut the lead to three, but Johnson pushed the lead to 9-5 in the fourth when he led off the inning with his first career home run, an opposite field shot to right field.
Hanover (5-5) made it a 9-6 game in the fifth, only to see the Colonels tack on two more runs in the bottom of the inning as Goodwin drove in one of the two runs with his second triple of the game for the final 11-6 tally.
Senior starting pitcher Tommy Munoz (Ft. Myers, Fla.) picked up his first win of the season. Munoz allowed six runs - three earned - over four innings of work to improve to 1-1 on the year.
Ammann finished the day 3-for-6 with three runs scored and two driven in to go along with a pair of stolen bases.
Johnson, Goodwin and sophomore Trey Litsey (Louisville, Ky.) recorded two hits apiece in game two as the trio combined to drive in seven of the 11 runs.
Centre, now 7-4 overall, will next host Thomas More College Wednesday, March 13. Game time is slated for 5:30 p.m. at Gary Wright Field.