Century baseball defeats Westminster, 7-3, to keep county title hopes alive
Century's big-hitting lineup powered a victory over Westminster setting up a rivalry game Wednesday that now has championship repercussions.
“When we’re hitting, we’re dangerous.”
Century coach Chris Poe gave a short, but straightforward assessment of his team as they left the field. The bats were certainly effective for the Knights on Monday as they walked away with a 7-3 win against Westminster.
“We had a hard practice on Saturday and just told them to attack the ball,” Poe said. “They definitely did that today.”
The win sets up a title opportunity for the Knights as they head into an important game later in the week.
Liberty clinched at least a share of the county championship with its 4-3 win against South Carroll on Monday. Century can share the crown by defeating its arch rival at home Wednesday.
“We don’t worry about other teams too much,” Hunter Elrod said. “If we execute, we’ll be just fine.”
Taking care of the business in front of them first, Elrod broke a 1-1 tie with a solo home run in the third inning. Elrod, one of the county’s most dangerous hitters, continued to show why he has developed into the ultimate leadoff hitter.
“He takes it seriously,” Poe said. “He does his job, takes counts deep, and when he hits the ball, he hits it hard. He’s got a lot of power.”
Following Elrod in the third, Chase Speiden drove in a run after grounding out and Mason Hendricks brought in another run with a clutch RBI single with two outs.
“I was seeing the ball pretty well,” Hendricks said. “I just went up there and attacked early at the first pitch.”
Pretty well may have been an understatement to describe how well the shortstop was seeing the ball at the plate. Hendricks went 4-for-4 with two RBIs, joining Speiden as the only Knights with multiple hits and RBIs in a key late-season county game.
Speiden’s second hit, a solo home run in the seventh inning, put the final nail in the coffin.
On the mound, Dominic Califano started the game for the Knights. After giving up a first inning sacrifice fly, the freshman held the Owls scoreless for the next four innings, finishing allowing three earned runs and seven strikeouts in six innings pitched.
Now, the Knights turn their attention to Liberty, looking to avenge a 2-1 defeat and earn a share of the county title.
With some hot bats in the lineup and solid starting pitching, Poe is excited for the challenge and as just another typical Century-Liberty game now has championship reprecussions.
“We got to hit, that’s the biggest thing.” he said. ” We’ve been playing great defense so at the plate, we got to come out and be aggressive. It’s gonna be a great game.”
Century — 013 020 1 — 7 9 4
Westminster — 100 002 0 — 3 6 6
WP: Dominic Califano (C) LP: EJ Youngling (W)
2B: W – Will Mollman, G Denkenberger. HR: C– Hunter Elrod, Chase Speiden.