If chicks do indeed dig the long ball, then any young ladies that came out to watch Center Grove play baseball Friday likely went home happy.
Eli Lawyer-Smith hit a pair of home runs, including a second-inning grand slam, and Garett Hill and Bryce Eblin added dingers of their own as the host Trojans powered their way to an 11-0 win over Whiteland in five innings.
Center Grove (8-5) opened the game with a pair of four-run innings and never looked back.
“One hit can start a whole lot,” Lawyer-Smith said, “and that’s one thing we’ve been working on, just keeping the energy up in case something crazy happens, and that can start a snowball effect.”
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The Trojans (8-5) dodged a bullet in the top of the first, throwing out Iyan Pelfree trying to score on a wild pitch, and then delivered a couple of bombs in the bottom of the frame. Hill drove a 2-1 pitch out over the wall in center field to score three, and Lawyer-Smith added a two-out solo shot to make it a 4-0 game early.
“When he does that, then all of a sudden everybody wants to hit,” Center Grove coach Keith Hatfield said of Hill’s homer. “So that definitely got us started, and then Eli — Eli had a hell of a day today.”
In the second, Hill and Ryan Sauter drew two-out walks to load the bases before Lawyer-Smith cleared them with his second round-tripper of the day.
After Jacob Johnson added an RBI single in the fifth inning, Eblin closed the game out with a two-run homer to right center.
The offensive outburst was more than enough support for Center Grove’s pitchers. Starter Brian Gaffney overcame some control struggles to work three no-hit innings for the win, and Bryce Tidd escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the fifth inning when first baseman Michael Wyman turned an unassisted double play to preserve the shutout.
The Warriors (7-7) will have ample opportunities to shake off the loss, as they’re in the midst of a grueling stretch of 10 games in 14 days.
“It’s one game of a 30-game season, regular-season game,” Whiteland coach Scott Sherry said. “Major league teams, college teams, they get blown out periodically. It happens. So you’ve got to have a short memory and bounce back on it tomorrow and get ready to go.”
