Bears edge Panthers

By LARRY BUGG
Published February 24, 2006

LECANTO - Cody Ball blasted a tying home run, then pitched two scoreless innings to give Central a 7-6 win over Lecanto on Thursday.

Ball (1-0) tied the score at 6 with a sixth-inning leadoff home run off Eric Mylin (1-1). Dan Schneidmiller reached on an error and later scored the winning run on a groundout by Brian Nicolini. Ball pitched the final two innings in relief, allowing one hit and one walk, no runs and striking out three.

"I got into the zone," Ball said. "My fastball was working for me. We had three home runs. We're pretty happy about this."

Both teams blasted away with Central hitting three homers and Lecanto one on a misty night. Jake Meadors, who was 3-for-4, belted a two-run home run in the first.

Jason Nicolini hammered a home run to deep centerfield in the second inning.

Central had 13 hits and Lecanto 10 for the game.

"We had a good approach offensively," Central coach Dan O Rourke said. "These guys had a good mind-set going into this. It was our best overall approach to hitting."

"We made too many errors of omission," Lecanto coach Jim Manos said. "Mylin did well (pitching)."

[Last modified February 24, 2006, 01:41:24]