For The Tribune
CROTHERSVILLE — Borden’s baseball team displayed offensive power throughout its line up to defeat Crothersville 15-0 and 21-2 Saturday on the Tigers’ diamond.
The Braves had 23 hits on the day.
The win in the first game gave the Braves at least a share of the Southern Athletic Conference title, with an SAC record of 4-1. The Tigers dropped to 1-2 in the SAC.
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The Tigers couldn’t get any offense going in this game as Jon Ritz singled in the bottom of the first inning and that was Crothersville’s only hit in the opener.
Crothersville threatened in the fifth inning when with two out, Carson Farmer was hit by a pitch and Jonathon Wiesman drew a walk, but the next batter struck out to end the game.
Borden had eight hits in this game, led by Noah Franklin with two hits, three RBIs and he scored two runs. Kyle Leftwich had a single, double and walk and two RBIs.
Tigers coach Jared Richey was impressed with the Braves.
“They are a hitting team: There is no doubt about it,” Richey said. “They’re disciplined in their hitting, and they make the simple plays. It’s as simple as that.”
The Braves used four hits and a walk to take a 4-0 lead in the top of the first in the second game. Franklin doubled with the bases loaded to drive in three of the runs.
The Tigers got off to a good start offensively in this game as Alex VanCoutren singled, he stole second and scored on Trevor Peters’ double.
The Braves (9-9) kept swinging hot bats as they bunched five hits, two walks, a hit batsman and a Crothersville error to score eight runs in the second, and used four this, three walks, two hit batsmen and another error by the Tigers to score nine runs in the third.
Leftwich hit a three-run homer in the third inning, and Franklin had five RBIs in this game. The Braves had 15 hits.
VanCoutren led off the bottom of the third with a hit, then moved up on a hit by Jacob James and walk to Logan Collins to load the bases. VanCoutren scored on a walk to Brayden Growe. A strike out ended the rally.
VanCoutren led the Tigers with two hits and two runs.
Richey said he was pleased to see the bats come to life in the second game.
“We started getting the bats around in the second game,” he said. “ It took a little longer than we wanted. We started making small plays. We started getting contact and that’s what we need more and more.”
Richey used two pitchers in the first game and three in the second game.
“We’ve got young pitchers,” he said. “Trevor threw everything he could in the first game, so then we had to go to some of our younger pitchers, and it showed. They’re lacking experience and they’re lacking mound time.”
The Tigers (4-5) will be home to Edinburgh Tuesday.