Mistakes piled up for Centralia on Wednesday.

Those mistakes turned into Eldon runs in the Panthers’ 9-4 loss at home. When the game was tied at 4, Centralia allowed five straight runs without a hit while only tallying one hit following a four-run second innings.

Head coach Mike Rodgers said both teams made mistakes and allowed baserunners, but Eldon (10-4) was better at capitalizing than Centralia (6-4) on that specific night.

“We let a leadoff guy get on via a routine ground ball that was an error, we had a couple balls we didn’t cut very well in the outfield, and we had a pop fly that they tagged from third — our shortstop makes a nice play in a short outfield,” Rodgers said. “Those are momentum shifters. Basically, it came down to little things that they capitalized better than we did.”

Robinson was at shortstop when he made that play on the shallow sacrifice fly that gave Eldon a 5-4 lead in the fifth inning. That was the second run Eldon scored without the benefit of a hit as it tied the game on an error in the fourth inning and then added to the lead via a balk and two wild pitches for an 8-4 lead in the seventh inning.

Tuckyr Pollock is Centralia’s primary catcher that Rodgers said has been throwing more than usual this season. Rodgers said he liked how Pollock battled in 5⅔ innings while allowing four earned runs on eight hits and five walks. Elliot McCoy didn’t allow a hit in his innings, and Robinson allowed two hits in a ⅓ of an inning pitched.

“We got to be mindful of his arm as the starting catcher too,” Rodgers said. “We had to make some changes, and they got a little more aggressive on the basepaths. We threw the ball around, we had a few passed balls there too and then momentum gets on their side.”

Rodgers pointed out that the game might have gone differently if not for some amazing play from the Eldon outfield. In particular, in the sixth inning, Centralia had two runners on thanks to an error and hit by pitch. Micah Danielson, who had a RBI single in the big Centralia second inning, appeared to break the Panthers’ hitless spell if not for the diving Hunter Hees in center field.

“They didn’t let a single ball drop out there,” Rodgers said. “For a second, I thought the ball might be gone. The next thing I know, he comes down with it. Sometimes in these games, there are mistakes you learn from and sometimes you tip your cap to the other team.”

Anthony Ford has been coming through in some big moments for Centralia so far this season. The reigning first-team all-Clarence Cannon Conference player went into Wednesday with a team-high .450 batting average and had a big night about a week prior at South Shelby with six RBI — including a grand slam — in a 15-1 victory. 

Against Eldon, Ford finished 2-for-4 at the plate and brought two runs in on a single in the second inning, giving him a one-RBI lead over Danielson at 14 RBI. Ford, who is one the team’s frontline pitchers and starting third baseman, owned the only Centralia hit after that fruitful inning. 

“He’s a sophomore kid but is the leader of our team because he leads with action — produces every single time,” Rodgers said. “Those big moments — he loves them.”

Rodgers mentioned McCoy as another sophomore producing as the team’s leadoff hitter — .515 on-base percentage going into Wednesday. Centralia has several sophomores it is relying on as it weathers a 2-3 recent stretch.

“We’re learning a lot of things,” Rodgers said. “We’ve got a ton of sophomores out there, and we’re just trying to get better.”

Centralia hosts district foe Mexico (9-6) at 5 p.m. Thursday.