By: Brendan Jewell
The Colts were in tough on the weekend, welcoming the defending champion Humber Hawks at home, losing by a wide margin with the pitching not able to maintain Humber's high-flying offence.
The Colts latest addition, Shoya Hase, took the rubber for Centennial making his OCAA debut after arriving in Canada from Japan just the night before. The jetlag clearly played a role in his performance as Hase struggled in his first start. The Japanese pitcher went an inning and a third giving up 15 earned runs on eight hits while walking six. Nathan Chard took over in the second, not faring much better, giving up 10 earned runs on 11 hits across one inning pitched. From there, Brett Honeysett and Cameron James settled down the Hawks bats for the rest of the game, giving up six runs combined on six hits for the next three innings before the game was called in the fifth.
On the other side of the ball, Erick Kratz continued his great season at the plate, driving in two runs, contributing to a four-run third inning for the Colts, which was good enough to chase Humber's starting pitcher Corey Vandegraaf from the game but the offence was not able to match the output from the Hawks, who were scoring at a torrid pace throughout the fixture.
Humber had a historic day at the plate scoring 31 runs which marked their highest offensive output in the school's history, breaking their previous mark of 23 runs set back in 2013. Aiden Murphy was the standout candidate for the Hawks with nine RBI, going 4-4 with two walks, including a grand slam in the third inning, which helped put his team up for good. Deidre De Banning also had a monster day at the plate, driving in seven runs due, in part to two, three-run home runs early on in the game. Along with the two Hawks stars, the rest of the lineup hit three more home runs throughout the game, with the team breaking several offensive records throughout the contest. Vandegraff picked up his second career victory (3.0 IP, 4 H, 3 BB), with the Hawks pitching managing to quiet the Colt's bats throughout the contest aside from a third-inning rally.
The second game of the doubleheader was postponed with the makeup date not yet determined the Colts will be back in action again on Oct. 1st in a doubleheader at St. Clair College.