Center Grove seniors Will Smithey (left) and Tye Thixton warm up between innings.
Center Grove (21-5) – Defending Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference, 4A sectional and regional champions will rely on pitching and a little less power … Cantleberry (8-1, 0.77 ERA last year) struck out eight batters in three innings in opening start Friday against Roncalli … strong mound corps with Drury (0-1, 1.24 ERA), Conner Cantrell (4-1, 1.69 ERA) and Jack Kellams (4-1, 0.66 ERA) … seniors Smithey (.281, 27 hits, 30 runs) and Todd Thixson (.306, 26 hits, 20 runs) bring experience to line-up … Smithey hit a home run in his first at-bat Friday … Drury drove in two runs against Roncalli and earned a save in 4-2 win … Nathaniel Coy (.280, 26 hits) returns … senior infielders Braden Pinegar and outfielder Ethan Brooks did not play last year … coach Keith Hatfield looking at young Trojans, Bryan Sauter at third and left fielder Nick Foley … home fans will find ticketing and concessions at a new entrance building … Lawrence Central visits today at 5:30 p.m. in tune-up for annual Trojan Classic double-header Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Coach’s comments: “We lost several seniors but return with a really good nucleus with four starters. They bring leadership, experience and obviously ability. We have some inexperience but will be a totally different team. Our strength on defense will be up the middle with our experience there. Each player in the field will have to be in the proper position to make plays. We’ll definitely have less power. Last year we had a lot of free swingers; this year we will have a lot of grind-out at-bats. I think we will have to be more disciplined at the plate. We have the pitching to make a deep run, but it will all come down to how many runs we can score.”
Coach’s comments: “We lost several seniors but return with a really good nucleus with four starters. They bring leadership, experience and obviously ability. We have some inexperience but will be a totally different team. Our strength on defense will be up the middle with our experience there. Each player in the field will have to be in the proper position to make plays. We’ll definitely have less power. Last year we had a lot of free swingers; this year we will have a lot of grind-out at-bats. I think we will have to be more disciplined at the plate. We have the pitching to make a deep run, but it will all come down to how many runs we can score.”
Junior pitcher Jack Kellams takes over the mound during an early season meeting against Roncalli.
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