The Park Hills Central Rebels have found another gear, and that gear apparently doesn’t involve losing. The Rebels took down North County 10-0 on Tuesday before besting Potosi 9-4 on Thursday, making it eight straight victories for an impeccable 12-1 record overall.
Central hosted the game against the Raiders on Tuesday, and Casen Murphy made a statement with his performance on both sides of the ball. The staff ace pitched a complete game, 13K, one-hit shutout and also homered in the game as part of a perfect day at the plate.
Murphy retired the first three batters in order to kick off the game, and then got the offense going for his club with a booming homer to right field to take a 1-0 lead. That was all the offense he would need on the mound, but Central was far from done cranking out runs.
They put up five more in the second, taking advantage of three North County errors and striking like a bolt of lightning with a three-run double off the bat of Sammy Callaway to clear the bases. That made it 6-0 and left the Raiders with a mountain to climb.
RBI singles from Lucas Whitehead and Jobe Bryant in the third made it 8-0, and then the Rebels picked up two more in the sixth to trigger the mercy rule. Bryant’s additional RBI base hit in the inning was the final blow that sealed North County’s fate.
Murphy got the win with his stellar performance on the mound, allowing just four baserunners all game. He also went 1-for-1 at the dish with two runs, three BBs and a solo homer. The rest of the Rebels used six Raider errors to drum up nine more runs, highlighted by Callaway’s 2-for-4, 3-RBI performance, and Bryant’s two run-scoring base hits.
Next up Central had to travel to Potosi, and this one was a much closer game than the previous blowout. The Rebels took the lead in the first with an RBI single by Murphy, but the Trojans answered back with a run of their own in the second inning. Central retook the lead in the third on an error, but Potosi matched them once again in the fourth to make it 2-2.
The Rebs kept up the back-and-forth in the fifth when Ty Schweiss smoked a double to left to score Whitehead, and then came around to score himself on a sharp single to right by Jaxon Jones. Whitehead added an extra tally in the next inning with a run-scoring base knock to make it 5-2, and this time Central wouldn’t relinquish the lead.
Potosi got two in the sixth to close the gap to 5-4, but the Rebels unloaded in the top of the seventh with four more runs to make sure that there was no doubt in this game’s outcome. Kendall Horton drove in a pair with a single to left, before back-to-back RBI rips from Barrett Henson and Matt Manion made it 9-4.
That score would hold up and Central had their 8th straight win. Whitehead got the W with 5.2 innings of work, allowing four runs (two earned) on four hits and did not walk a batter. Horton came in to pick up the final four outs and get the save. He allowed two hits and recorded three of his four outs via strikeout.
Schweiss had a big day with a 2-for-2 performance that included four runs, two steals and an RBI. He was backed up by Jones, who went 2-for-4 and drove in two, while Horton added to his impressive game with a pair of RBI and two swipes.
The Rebels seem like teflon at this point and one almost feels bad for their competition. They’ll look to make it nine in a row next Monday when they host the Poplar Bluff Mules.
