Wins have been hard to come by for Central baseball this spring, but everything seemed to come together effortlessly on Monday as the Bulldogs (7-14) clinched a 6-1 victory over the Seymour Tigers (5-14) on Senior Night.
And it was only appropriate that one of Central's five seniors, catcher Pat Ponder, made the loudest noise at the plate – going 2-for-3 with three RBI on a night when the spotlight shined just a little bit brighter than usual.
“It seems like it would provide more pressure, but it really took the pressure off,” Ponder said in reference to playing on Senior Night in front of family and friends. “I knew that no matter what I did here tonight, these people would all still love me and I would still love all of them.”
Seymour managed to dent the scoreboard first, however, as freshman Truman Hosiner roped an RBI double to left in the top of the third to put the Tigers up 1-0.
A half-inning later, Central would make its move – collecting three consecutive singles off Seymour starter Kyle Schreffler to load the bases with nobody out.
After a walk and a fielder's choice brought in the tying and go-ahead runs, respectively, Schreffler got junior Andrew Lee to pop out to shortstop before Ponder stepped in to deliver the big blow – a two-out, two-run double into deep left field to give the Bulldogs a 4-1 advantage.
“He got the ball up more than he normally does and they put the bat on the ball well,” Seymour head coach Sam Berg said of Schreffler. “That was the difference.”
The Bulldogs added an additional run in the fourth thanks to a double by senior Chris King and one more for good measure in the bottom of the fifth on another double by Ponder – this one to deep right-center to score Lee from first base.
Ponder's final two appearances at the plate, resulting in his two doubles, were a far cry from his first showing in the bottom of the second on Monday in which he struck out swinging.
“Those next two at-bats, I just calmed down,” said Ponder. “Thankfully, my teammates helped us get a couple of runs early on so, really, there wasn't a lot of pressure.”
On the other side for Central, junior pitcher Ben Moore showcased arguably his best performance of the season.
Despite giving up seven hits, the impressive hurler didn't walk a batter, yielded just one earned run and struck out eight Tigers – thanks in large part to a nasty curveball that kept his adversaries completely off balance throughout the game.
“Today, it was especially effective,” Moore said of his curve. “It's been effective in the past, but I think today I just had the right release point and it was just going right where I needed it to. It was working really well.”
Considering the pomp and circumstance surrounding the evening, Moore had some extra incentive to buckle down and help lead his team to an important victory.
“I was just really glad to get a win for [the seniors],” Moore said. “That was the whole reason I was out there, just to win for them.”
Both squads face quick turnarounds as Central travels to Sparta on Tuesday, while Seymour hits the road Tuesday as well to take on Pleasant Hope.
