Struggles at the plate can be solved with a new offensive approach. A new bat doesn’t hurt, either.
The Centreville Academy Tigers used a more aggressive hitting philosophy in their 12-3 victory over the Bowling Green Buccaneers in the Parklane Academy Spring Break Baseball Tournament on Tuesday.
Hunter Devall used a new bat to belt his second home run of the season, a solo shot to center field in the fifth inning to cap the victory.
“Some of us took a different approach at the plate,” Centreville head coach Jason Horne said. “We’ve been talking about it and talking about it a lot. ‘If I get that pitch, I’m going to jump on it. If I don’t, I’m not going after it.’ ”
The Tigers’ offensive breakthrough was led by Ethan Noland, who went 2-for-2 with two singles, a walk, three runs scored and one run batted in. It was Noland’s fifth consecutive multi-hit game.
Centreville’s offense backed the strong pitching of juniors Jason Spivey and Chance Humphreys. The two right-handers combined on a three-hitter. Spivey started and went 21/3 innings and allowed three runs on two hits. He walked two, struck out two and hit a batter.
Humphreys worked the final 22/3 scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit, walked two and struck out five.
“Our pitching kept us in it,” Horne said. “We wanted to get Spivey some work. Humphreys came in and we got some quality innings out of him.”
The Tigers quickly jumped out to a 5-0 first-inning lead aided by three walks and two hit batters.
Randy Bell laced a single to left to lead off the game, then advanced to second when Gage Chandler was hit by a pitch. One out later, Bell swiped third base and scored on Noland’s line-drive single to left.
After Hunter Travis blooped a single to right-center to load the bases, Corey Gaulden fouled off a 3-2 pitch before coaxing a walk to drive home Chandler for a 2-0 lead.
Devall then walked to force home Noland and extend the lead to 3-0. With two outs, Spivey was hit by a pitch to bring home Travis, and Gaulden scored on a walk to Bell to make it 5-0.
Centreville tallied a four-run second inning to stretch its lead to 9-0.
After Tyler Towles singled to lead off the frame, walks to Noland and Travis loaded the bases with nobody out.
One out later, Devall walked home Towles to make it 6-0. Caleb Carter followed with a hard-hit grounder to the Bowling Green shortstop, whose throw was dropped by the second baseman to score Noland for a 7-0 advantage.
The lead went to 9-0 when Spivey was hit by a pitch to force home Travis. Chandler then walked to bring in Devall for a 10-0 cushion.
Centreville’s lead went to 11-0 in the third when Noland walked, went to second on a walk to Travis, then scored on a pair of wild pitches.
Bowling Green broke through with three runs in the bottom of the third on a walk, hit batsman, two singles and a steal of home plate.
Devall capped the game’s scoring in the top of the fifth when he blasted a 3-1 offering over the right-center field fence. The junior who has already committed to LSU connected for the round-tripper with a Marucci Elite bat he received Monday night.
“We saw some good things out of some people tonight,” Horne said of his team’s overall performance.
The only negative Horne took from Tuesday’s game was the 13 Centreville runners left stranded on base.
“That’s not very good,” he said. “We have to work on that.”
