Mustangs Split With Tigers In Final AMC Tuneup

Erik Holth, CBC Sports Information Director

            North Little Rock, Ark. – Playing their final midweek game before the start of American Midwest Conference play, Central Baptist College baseball hosted the Champion Christian Tigers this afternoon in a doubleheader at DeSalvo Memorial Field. CBC (14-11) split with CCC (7-10) winning game one 6-2 before dropping game two 8-6.

GAME ONE – CBC 6, CHAMPION 2

            CBC scored quickly in the first game, going ahead 1-0 in the first inning on a double by Ryan Dauphinee. A Jeremy Franco single in the second made it 2-0 and CBC was up 4-0 after three innings thanks to an error and an RBI groundout by Garrett Fitts. Champion would score a run each in the fourth and fifth to make it 4-2 before CBC added insurance runs in the sixth on a single by Preston White and an error by the shortstop. Jaxon Kirkhuff went the distance for his first win of the season, throwing a complete game five-hitter, allowing two runs with five strikeouts.

GAME TWO – CHAMPION 8, CBC 6

            Champion Christian had a 2-0 lead after four innings before the Mustangs grabbed a 4-2 lead in the fifth thanks to a single by Will Thompson that scored two runs and was followed later in the inning by a two-run double by Aaron Prince. The Tigers would score six runs in the sixth to take an 8-4 lead, setting up seventh inning drama. Prince reached on an error to leadoff the inning, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Josh Lumsden to make it 8-5. A walk and a wild pitch put runners on second and third and the Mustangs climbed within two when they scored on an error. Dauphinee, the potential winning run, lined into a double play and then George Astacio popped out to end the game.

UP NEXT

            CBC opens American Midwest Conference play on Friday night when they take on UHSP in St. Louis. First pitch from Hopkins Field in Alton, Ill., is at 6 p.m.