Spartan baseball wins over Centerville

The Connersville Spartan baseball team improved to 4-3 on the season following a 9-3 non-conference home win over the Centerville Bulldogs on Wednesday. Freshman Colin Good had 7 strikeouts in 6 innings for the win on the mound for the Spartans.

“We’re starting to hit the ball better,” Connersville Head Coach Jason Cloyd said. “Colin pitch[ed] an outstanding game.”

The Spartans took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning off a RBI single from junior Brody Shearer to score senior Kolten DeBoard. Connersville would add 3 runs in the bottom of the second, and 4 runs in the bottom of the third.

Sophomore Parker Flanigan had 3 RBI with 1 run scored on the evening. Senior Landon Lykins and junior Gavin Brannon each had 2 runs scored. Sophomore Brayden Keller had 2 RBI, and 1 run scored.

Connersville led 8-0 in the bottom of the fifth with 2 outs and the bases loaded with an opportunity to trigger the 10-run mercy rule. Centerville was able to retire the Spartan side, and got on the board with 3 runs in the top of the sixth. The Centerville pitches collected 7 strikeouts on the evening and Connersville committed 5 fielding errors.

“[I’m] frustrated we didn’t put them away,” Cloyd said. “We get content sometimes. We’ve got to cut down on errors and strikeouts. It’s imperative, and we talk about it. We’re just not doing a very good job of it. I’m not happy witch our 2-strike approach. We’re not shortening up and putting it in play. There were a couple times where we’ve had guys on second and third and we strike out. That’s the last thing we need to have. If we can put the ball in play, it gives us a chance to score a run.”

Deboard added 1 RBI with senior Landyn Geise and junior Zaine Bentley scoring 1 run each. Senior Aaron Kidd collected strikeouts in 1 inning of relief on the mound for Connersville. Wednesday marked the second of 5 games for the Spartans in a 6-day stretch.

“It’s a busy week,” Cloyd said. “We’re trying to save pitching as much as possible. That’s why a 10-run rule would have been nice. Aaron didn’t throw many of pitches, but that’s an arm we’re going to need later this week.”

The Spartans will host the Franklin County Wildcats in an Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference rematch this evening. Connersville defeated the Wildcats 13-6 in Franklin County on Tuesday.

“They’ll come up here ready to play,” Cloyd said. “It’s Connersville/Franklin County, so you know how that going to be. We’d better be ready because they’ll want to beat us.”