WC win streak snapped by Lewisburg
Published 11:25 am Wednesday, March 14, 2012
MADISON — Warren Central dug deep into its pitching staff to get through Tuesday’s game against Lewisburg.
Lewisburg just went deep.
The Patriots connected for three home runs — two by Tanner Lloyd and another by Chris Taylor — and spoiled Warren Central’s bid for an undefeated run through Madison Central’s Big Blue Classic with a 6-3 victory.
WC’s five-game winning streak was also snapped, but it hardly seemed to sour their mood. After a 3-3 start that included some very uneven baseball, the Vikings (8-4) had their best stretch of the young season over the past week. Included in the winning streak was a division game against Vicksburg, their first victory against Madison Central in six years, and a 4-1 win over Terry earlier on Tuesday.
“It’s been a great week,” WC coach Josh Abraham said. “I love the way our guys competed and got after it for the last six days, pretty much. We’re headed the right direction, and these guys know it.”
Abraham used his best pitcher, Cody Waddell, against Terry.
Waddell allowed one run and struck out nine in his third complete-game victory in as many starts.
That saved a few arms for the tournament finale against Lewisburg (7-4), which was the Vikings’ fifth game in four days, and Abraham brought in just about everyone he had available. Four pitchers, none of whom had thrown more than a few innings in their varsity careers, combined to last six innings.
Hunter Austin, normally WC’s catcher, made it through the fourth inning in his first start as a varsity pitcher. He didn’t fare poorly considering his inexperience on the mound, but was shaky in the first inning. He gave up a leadoff single and hit a batter before Taylor launched a pitch over the left field fence to give Lewisburg a 3-0 lead.
“I’m not a pitcher, but when they call on me, wherever they need me I’m going to have to go,” Austin said. “The first inning I had to get used to the mound. That mound is kind of weird. It’s straight down. But other than that, I got settled in and started hitting my slider.”
Austin didn’t allow a run after Taylor’s homer, and ended up with a no-decision when WC tied it on Travis Barnett’s second RBI single of the game in the top of the fourth. Barnett finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBIs.
Austin’s successors didn’t fare as well, however.
After a foul pop up fell between shortstop Waddell and third baseman Devon Bell, Lloyd got a second chance and homered to left center field off freshman Zack Cox to break the 3-3 tie in the fifth inning. Lloyd came up again in the sixth with a runner on first, and crushed a fastball from Michael Whitley far beyond the left field wall to make it 6-3.
WC put two runners on base with one out in the top of the seventh, but couldn’t score. Austin hit a dribbler back to the pitcher off the knob of the bat for an easy out, and Will Stegall struck out swinging to end the game.
“They just squared up some balls. The third home run they hit, we called for it in the dirt and he kind of left it up and the guy got a hold of it. But the other two were down the pike,” said Austin, who moved from pitcher to catcher in the fifth inning.