Madison hands Vikings loss at AAU tournament

Published 12:00 am Friday, July 16, 2004

[7/15/04]Madison Central took advantage of Warren Central’s fielding woes and inconsistent hitting for a 9-4 victory Wednesday in the End of the Summer Showdown at WC.

The Jaguars scored five unearned runs in the game, taking an early lead before a seventh-inning rally sealed the win.

“They say that if you make three errors in a game, there’s a good chance you’ll lose,” WC coach Randy Broome said. “And we made more than that tonight.

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“We can’t make those mistakes against a good ballclub and expect to win.”

Drew Warnock took the loss for the Vikings, striking out four and walking just two.

Josh Demoney, Mitch Harrison, and Bobby Doggette were the only Jaguars to get hits, with three each.

With two on in the top of the first, Austin O’Kelly hit a weak grounder back to the pitcher. Warnock’s throw to third sailed into left field, and both runs scored.

WC responded with a four-run second inning, sending nine batters to the plate. Otis Stamps had a two-run double, and Nick Carson, Zach Balthrop and Eric Douglas all had hits in the inning.

The hits in the fourth were the only ones the Vikings could muster, however.

Madison Central regained the lead in the third, scoring three runs on three singles and an error to go up 5-4.

WC was plagued by fielding problems again in the seventh, allowing four runs to score on three hits.

The first two batters of the inning reached on errors, and Doggette followed with a single to load the bases. Demoney then singled in a run, and Ryan Lee’s sacrifice fly scored another run.

The inning didn’t end until O’Kelly was thrown out at the plate on Harrison’s double, but two runs had already scored.

“They got runners in scoring position and just got a little momentum,” Broome said. “They did a good job of hitting the ball when they had runners on base. We try to stop that kind of momentum and prevent a snowball like what happened tonight, but you can’t think about it too much.”

Hillcrest Christian will play the Delta Tigers today at 5 p.m. The Vikings will face the winner of that game at 7:15.