Central rolls past in two-game sweep

It was a complete-game effort in every sense of the word for Central in the first round of its best-of-three series against Prattville to open the Class 7A playoffs on Friday at Darnell-Nelson Field.

Pitchers Noah Wilkes and Tanner Belcher both pitched complete-game, six-inning efforts to help the Red Devils to mercy rule-shortened wins en route to a two-game sweep of the Lions. Central won both Games 1 and 2 10-0 to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2012. The Red Devils will face the winner of Auburn and Enterprise in their next series.

After winning Game 1 10-0 in which Wilkes was in control from the opening pitch, Belcher was able to match him with six innings of four-hit, shutout baseball. He struck out seven and never really found himself in a jam.

Like Wilkes in the first game, the closest Prattville came to scoring was in its final at-bat in the sixth, when a leadoff batter reached third on a single and a two-base error. Belcher struck out the next two and forced a flyout to end the game.

Belcher also went 2-for-3 in Game 2, driving in four runs. He had a total of eight RBIs for the two games combined.

Jackson Cook, Dayton Edmonds, Wilkes, Wade Chandler and Jay Kehoe each had RBIs in Game 2, as well.

In Game 1 of its first-round playoff series against Prattville, Central scored early and often and got a sterling complete-game effort on the mound to roll to a 10-0 run-rule-shortened victory.

“It was big,” pitcher Noah Wilkes said of winning Game 1 after the game. “It gives you a lot of momentum, takes some pressure off and just lets you go out and take care of business.

And Wilkes did. He got the call on the mound to open the series and responded with a shutout, striking out six and allowing just five hits over six innings. Only one runner made it as far as third base in the game, coming in the sixth inning, and he was stranded after a flyout ended the inning.

“I was just trying to hit my spots and let my defense work,” Wilkes said. “They did a great job behind me. They played a clean game and made the routine plays.”

With an effort like his, one run would have been enough to get the victory. Instead, the Red Devils plated 10, scoring in five of six innings and plating three in both the first and the fourth innings.

After a quick top half of the first inning, Central went to work early. Slade Gorman led off the bottom half with a walk and Evan Baber was hit by a pitch after that. Tanner Belcher followed with an RBI single to deep left-center that caused a collision between two Prattville outfielders.

Baber came home on a passed ball a few pitches later to make it 2-0. Jermond popped out for the first out of the inning, but with runners at second and third, Noah Wilkes knocked an RBI groundout to make it 3-0.

Belcher drove in a run in the second to make it 4-0, and after a quiet third, Central took complete control in the fourth. After Prattville set down the first two batters of the inning, Baber knocked a double and came around to score on an RBI single by Belcher.

Williams and Wilkes walked to load the bases, and Jackson Cook drove in two with a single to make it 7-0.

Baber and Belcher both had RBI singles in the fifth, and Wade Chandler completed the run-rule victory with an RBI single in the sixth.

Belcher led the way on offense, going 4-for-4 with four RBIs. All four of his hits were singles. Wilkes went 1-for-3 with an RBI, and Jackson Cook was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Wade Chandler was 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Baber finished the game 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.

This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Central rolls past in two-game sweep."