Cole, Maroons set tone early in convincing win over rival Chargers

May 2—CHAMPAIGN — Tre Cole admitted it: The Champaign Central baseball team had overlooked Centennial in each of their last two series openers.

That led to the Chargers upsetting Central 9-6 in 2024 and 8-4 last season, both at Spalding Park. Of course, the Maroons went on to get revenge on their crosstown rival just a few days later both years, but their pride still took a hit.

They made sure to wipe out any chance of an upset on Friday, as Central reclaimed its home turf with a 15-1 win against Centennial in five innings to extend its winning streak to nine games.

"Not underestimating an opponent has been big for us. We come out here with one thing on our minds, and that's to win no matter who we're playing," Cole said. "The first game (against Centennial) the last couple years has been a mental battle for us. We just had to not psych ourselves up before the game and take it as just another opponent, and we came out here and got the job done."

Central's bats were hot out of the gates, sending 12 batters to the plate and scoring eight runs in the first inning after Cole pitched a one-two-three top half. Following a pair of hit-by-pitches, Ben McDaniel got the hit parade started with a two-run single. A few batters later, Will Ciciora collected two of his three RBI on the day with a bases-loaded single. Getting back to the top of the order, Ryan Pipkins tripled home two runs, and John Timmons hit his first of two doubles in the game to make it 8-0.

The Maroons (17-5) scored three runs in both the second and third innings and added one more in the fourth for good measure. It was a dominant day at the plate, Central's seventh time reaching double-digit runs in the last 10 games. Nic Bralts paced the lineup with three hits and three runs scored, and Wilson McDaniel and Talin Baker each drove in two runs.

Cole's performance on the mound was just as solid. The senior struck out nine batters in four innings of work, with his only hit allowed being an infield single in the third inning by Isaiah Allen, who stole second and third base before scoring the lone run by the Chargers (5-13) on a wild pitch. Brody Krone came in to pitch a scoreless fifth frame to finish the job.

"We're all just hungry," Cole said. "We lost some key guys last year, so we kind of see ourselves as an underdog. That really motivates us to come out and show that we're not supposed to be an underdog. It's just confidence. That's what's been leading us to success recently."

Allen's hustle around the bases got the Centennial's dugout fired up, and the Chargers stayed mentally in the game all the way through the final out. There wasn't much to celebrate for the Chargers in this game, but they made sure the fans could hear them every time they had something to cheer for, giving first-year coach John Phillips confidence his players will be ready to go when they host Central on Monday.

"It's all about, 'Never say die,'" Phillips said. "We're never going to give up. These guys are behind each other 100 percent. You can't get too high or too low. I'm proud of the guys and how they handled it. Nobody likes to lose like this to a crosstown rival, but they didn't give up. They stayed behind their teammates, and that's all I can ask. We're going to be ready to play on Monday night, and I'm hoping you're going to see a whole different ballgame."