Centralia split a home triangular on Saturday against California and Elsberry, losing 5-3 to California in the morning and then defeating Elsberry 6-4 in the afternoon.
After Elsberry's Kaden Kinsler hit a home run off the first pitch from Tuckyr Pollock, the sophomore pitcher and Centralia settled down and stayed alert and energized on the basepaths and in the field to defeat the Indians.
“You’re facing a guy throwing upper 80s and (Pollock’s) not quite throwing that hard, and they’ve got some big sticks in their lineup,” head coach Mike Rodgers said. “He trusted his defense. (Kinsler) hit it out of this field and the field behind us and then he just stayed in the zone. He comes right at them and didn’t pitch around them.”
The Panthers committed five errors to lose to California, allowing four runs in the fifth inning to break a scoreless stalemate. Micah Danielson reached base multiple times thanks to his speed pressuring the Pintos defense into mistakes, including two runs that scored on his bunt in the fifth inning.
“Not only is he fast, but he makes good reads and he’s just aggressive,” Rodgers said. “When you see a guy busting out of the box, all of a sudden, your feet are moving and your hands are moving. There was a play where they threw the ball over the first baseman’s head because he put pressure on them. He doesn’t take plays off.”
Look for the full story in the Wednesday, May 3, 2023, edition of the Mexico Ledger.
