Central Cruises on Senior Night

Senior lefty C.J. Cronic pitched five shutout innings and fanned 10 as coasted to a 9-4 victory over crosstown rival Archer Tigers. Seven senior players and one manager was honored before the game and then the Black Knights promptly jumped out to a 7-0 lead and went on to the victory.

Cronic struckout the side in the first inning after allowing a leadoff man to get on via an error. In the bottom of the first, the Black Knights picked up three runs after two outs on an RBI single by Josh Davis and an RBI single by Andrew Ellis. Another run scored on an error. Central made it 5-0 with two more in the second inning as Eli Vale reached on an error, Cronic got on by catcher's interference and both scored on a single by Cody De La Paz. The Black Knights added another run in the third as Vale had an RBI infield single and in the fourth inning Dillon Mackel drove in a run with a groundout.

Archer scored three in the top of the sixth off reliever De La Paz as Alex Martin walked with the bases loaded and Curtis Graves doubled in two more but Martin was thrown out at the plate.

Central went on to score two more runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth. With runners on first and third, Archer pitcher Jordan Fountain had Luis Valdes picked off but De La Paz was able to score from third as Valdes got caught in a rundown. The throw got away and everyone was safe. drove in another run as he reached on catcher's interference with the bases loaded.

Archer scored their final run on a groundout in the seventh by Dillon Malcom.

Cronic was very proud of his performance. "I was a little nervous out there," he said. "They are not bad for a first year team in our region. They fight and battle back and don't give up." Cronic got emotional about senior night. "It was a good ride but it's sad being my last home game. But to get 10 strike outs was a good feeling."

Coach David Lamberth also praised his seniors. "I told them you don't want to lose on senior night," Lamberth said. "C.J. is a hard worker. He will find a way to get out of jams. He gets wild but he is able to get out of it. He is one of the best kids I have had the pleasure to work with. I can't say enough good things about C.J." Lamberth added that his team had to battle injury and depth all year. "We are not like the Brookwood and Parkview's," Lamberth said. "We have nine or ten guys and we have to play the same ten guys and it wears on us and it catches up with you. Some of those schools have five pitchers but we keep fighting. I don't want to lose these guys. This is a tough class to lose."

The seven seniors are Cronic, Fields, Scott Boyd, Terry Turner, Vincent Haynor, Dillon Mackel, Dustin Hays and manager Ashlyn Arp. Central will close out their season on Friday against Shiloh.