Central tops Auburn, clinches playoff berth

This is what Central had in mind when it hired Bobby Howard to take over its baseball program last April. After three years failing to reach the postseason, the hope was that Howard was the answer to help the team get over the hump.

On Thursday, it did just that with a 7-2 win over Auburn that clinched a berth in the Class 7A playoffs. But Howard tossed aside the idea that anything was his doing. Thursday’s win was all about Tanner Belcher.

“He’s done it all year,” Howard said. “He hasn’t had but one bad game all year. He’s been a horse for us, and he went out and did it.”

Belcher pitched a complete game, scattering eight hits and allowing just two runs. That came just a day after he had arguably the biggest hit of the night, a grand slam that helped Central defeat Auburn 12-11 in extra innings in the first game of the series.

The two wins made Central 2-0 in Area 3-7A play with a series against Smiths Station left. Because only the first two games in each three-game series count toward playoff standings, Central can finish no worse than 2-2. Auburn, which has already played Smiths Station, is 1-3.

“Going into this game, I knew it was going to be a big game,” Belcher said. “I just had to work on locating the fastball and changeup, get some ground balls and let my infield work and every now and then get a popup let my outfield work.”

He did just that. Auburn was off balance for most of the contest. Arguably the closest the Tigers came to putting a strong inning together was the very first inning when they loaded the bases. Belcher got a groundout to end the threat, however, and settled into a groove.

He gave up an RBI single to Morgan Brown in the fourth and a sacrifice fly by Brown in the sixth, driving in Noah Barnes who had led off the inning with a double. But that was it.

Meanwhile, Central played station-to-station baseball on offense, scoring one run in each of the first four innings and adding three in the sixth to put the game away.

In the first, Slade Gorman led off with a single, and courtesy runner Justin Glenn moved to second on a stolen base and third on a wild pitch. He came home on an infield single by Evan Baber.

In the second, Brant Knox walked and moved to second on a single by Dayton Edmonds. Javante Williams sacrificed the two runners to second and third with a bunt, and Wade Chandler drove in the second run with an RBI groundout.

Jermond Williams scored on an RBI infield single by Knox in the third, and Belcher drove Zach Elias home with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the fourth.

The Red Devils scored three in the sixth on a two-RBI single by Jermond Williams and an RBI walk by Javante Williams.

“(Auburn) helped us out with a few walks and hit batters, but we had some guys who had some good situational at-bats right in the middle of the game,” Howard said. “They were groundouts, but they were productive outs. We got runs there.”

The runs led to a win, which led to a playoff berth. And Jermond Williams let out a sigh and a smile after the game.

“It’s just a sigh of relief,” he said. “My ninth grade year, it was like a disaster. We didn’t have a bad team, we just never found that chemistry. Over the years, we found that chemistry, but we just couldn’t put it together.”

Having put a playoff team together, the Red Devils now have a chance to finish first in the area next week against Smiths Station. The Panthers, meanwhile, will be playing for a playoff spot, as well. They need to earn a split with Central in order to finish ahead of Auburn in the standings.

Central lost Game 3 to Auburn 7-4, but it won’t count in the area standings.

This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 9:25 PM with the headline "Central tops Auburn, clinches playoff berth."