Sterlington, La. - The No. 14 Central Methodist Baseball program earned a pair of wins on the opening day of the fifth annual Cajun Collision Friday in Sterlington, Louisiana.
Central shut out each of its first two opponents of the tourney, beginning with a 9-0 win over Louisiana Christian followed by a 6-0 victory against No. 22 Tabor College.
The win against the Bluejays also marked 400 career wins for Head Coach Nate Breland. Breland, who has averaged nearly 43 wins/season in the last four years leading the Eagles, has compiled a 400-178 career record to date.
Game 1: No. 14 CMU 9 - Louisiana Christian 0
Cesar Morales got the start on the mound for CMU. The 6-1 right hander went five scoreless innings, giving up just three hits and four walks while striking out six.
Nicholas Neighbours came in relief for the final two innings, allowing just two hits with one strikeout.
Central plated the first run of the game in the second inning, as Darius Freeman singled and then advanced to second on an error to put CMU in scoring position.
David Soriano then tripled to easily bring Freeman home for the first run of the afternoon.
The bats continued for CMU in the bottom of the third with seven runs coming across the plate.
Ryan Malzahn had a two-RBI single, followed by Freeman who picked up an RBI-single to left. The big hit of the inning came from Zeb Wede, who connected on a grand slam to open the game up, 8-0.
Wede added one more RBI to his credit after a sacrifice fly to center field scored Freeman in the fifth.
Central finished the game with nine hits total and took advantage of four miscues by Louisiana Christian to seal their first victory of the day.
Game 2: No. 14 CMU 6 - No. 22 Tabor 0
The offense continued to be just as impressive in their second game of the day against nationally ranked Tabor, wasting no time to get the first two runs across in the bottom of the first.
With runners on first and second, Malzahn singled to right to bring Valentin Cerna Jr. in from second and advancing Kyle Williams to third.
Two batters later, Freeman flied out to center field to bring in the second run of the game.
Pitching for both teams proved to be strong throughout the middle innings, with neither team able to cash in any runs until the bottom of the sixth. Central plated four additional runs in the six to extend their lead.
Freeman continued to have himself a day, notching his first homerun of the tournament to right field.
Two batters later Jack Prewett followed with a three-run bomb to right to push the lead to 6-0.
Senior Foster Seitz tossed a gem, as the right hander threw a complete game shutout. He allowed just four hits, one walk and matched his CMU career best with nine strikeouts.
The Eagles will continue play in the Cajun Coliision Saturday, taking on IU-Kokomo at 11:00 a.m. followed by a 2:30 p.m. matchup against the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
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