Friend, Bulldogs get best of Legacy
Centennial’s Sam Friend had not hit well against Legacy starting pitcher Joseph Lauria in past meetings.
He broke through to help his team get a win Wednesday.
Friend went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs to power the Bulldogs to a 15-5 home win over Legacy.
“We saw a lot of off-speed (pitches) today, and so I was basically just trying to wait and get a good pitch to drive,” Friend said. “He’s gotten me. I guess today was my day.”
Friend, who will play for UNLV next year, also started on the mound and struck out five to earn the win.
“I kind of put it on him as a senior to give us an opportunity to get a win, and he did a great job,” Centennial coach Charles Cerrone said.
The Longhorns scored the game’s first run in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly by Zach Monticelli.
The Bulldogs responded with six runs in the bottom of the second highlighted by Matt Triana’s three-run single and Friend’s two-run double.
“We did a good job of making him (Lauria) throw a lot of pitches early in the game,” Cerrone said. “Once he threw a lot, we were able to get to him.”
Anthony Consiglio and Dominick Monteiro both blasted two-run homers that keyed a seven-run fourth as Centennial took control.
Christian Bernal and Friend added RBI singles, and another run scored on a wild pitch.
Legacy answered with three runs in the top of the fifth on Chase Skinner’s two-run homer and Austin Christiansen’s RBI single. But the Bulldogs tacked on an unearned run in the fifth to end the game by the 10-run rule.
The Bulldogs (18-9) improved to 6-3 in the Northwest League.
“We’re right on the bubble, and it was kind of a must-win for us,” Cerrone said. “We’re just starting to get healthy, and hopefully the kids can use this one as a steppingstone.”
“I really think that this was a big game to come back from a rough little streak,” Friend said. “They were 7-1 coming in, and this win was a big one for us.”
Monteiro was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs. Bernal (two RBIs), Triana (two runs) and Cody Clark (one RBI, one run) each added two hits for Centennial.
Skinner was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Christiansen was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Lauria went 2-for-3 with a run for Legacy (16-4, 7-2).