Archives > Sports > Schools
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Over and Out: Centennial swept in regional quarterfinals
BY Andrew Snyder, asnyder@starlocalnews.com
The Frisco Centennial baseball team threw everything it had at Rockwall-Heath during Friday's elimination game, but it did nothing to slow a red-hot Hawks offense that piled on eight runs in the final frame of a 16-3 win.
Heath (30-7) swept the best-of-3 regional quarterfinals series to advance to the regional semifinals, where they will take on Whitehouse, for the fourth consecutive season. The Hawks also won Game 1 against Centennial by a convincing margin, 7-2.
“I'm proud of our team,” said Jason Wilson, Centennial head coach. “We had a great season, but to lose – I can't think of a better team [than Heath]. That's one of the best teams I've seen.”
From there, the Titans rolled out Jason Morrison, Remey Reed, Ryan Hill and Wesley Ahlfeld in succession. Walks were a problem for the group on the night, as six of the Hawks' runs were scored by players who had been handed a free pass.
Jake Thompson was a one-man wrecking crew for Heath. The senior raised his .400-plus season average with a perfect 4-for-4 night at the plate in which he hit two singles, a double and a home run and drew two walks.
“We threw strikes and they hit hard,” Wilson said. “That’s the way it goes. They’re a good team and a good hitting club. I think they’re going to make it all the way to state.”
Thompson coupled that power hitting with a strong performance on the mound, where he struck out nine, walked three and gave up four hits and an earned run in six complete innings of work before giving way to reliever Ryan Kinney in the seventh.
The Hawks scored a run in the top of the first inning on a wild pitch to take an early lead they would add to with a three-run third. Thompson led off that inning with a home run and the Hawks batted around before settling on a 4-0 lead.
The Titans kept it a close game momentarily by answering with two runs in the bottom of the third. Mario Micketti led off the inning with a walk and took second on a passed ball before coming home on an RBI double from Tanner Gardner, who scored on a throwing error to first to make it a 4-2 game in Heath’s favor.
Thompson struck out consecutive batters from there to end the inning and limit the damage. The Hawks padded their lead with a three-run fourth inning and added another run in the fifth to move ahead 8-2.
Gardner had a big night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two singles and a double and driving in two runs. He drove in the Titans’ final run of the season in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single that scored Zach McCown.
Friday’s loss capped a successful year for Centennial that saw it finish second in District 9-4A with a 10-4 district record and advance to the regional quarterfinals in the playoffs after sweeping Rockwall and Hillcrest in the bi-district and area round, respectively.
“I’m proud of our guys. We had a great year,” Wilson said. “Twenty wins is a great season and we had 25. It’s the first time in school history that we made it to regionals, so there’s a lot to be proud of.”
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: Frisco Centennial «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
