Savannah High School baseball wins home opener over Central

(SAVANNAH, MO) - The Central and Savannah High School baseball teams traded blows through 5 innings but it was the Savages who pulled away late and came out on top 10-4 in the team's home opener.

Central jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the top of the 2nd, scoring on three wild pitches from Savannah junior pitcher Jackson Ledden. But then in the bottom of the 3rd, Ledden got revenge at the plate by driving in 2 runs to tie the game on a double for the Savages.

Later in the bottom of the 4th, senior Jackson Dudeck drove another run for Savannah on an RBI single and the Savages look a 4-3 lead.

Central responded in the top of the fifth on an RBI double from junior Matthew Deathrage tied the game once again at 4-4.

But in the bottom of the fifth, Savannah loaded the bases for junior Mason Waitkoss and he came through with a huge RBI double that drove in 2 runs and another run later scored on an error. Savages never trailed again and later added 2 more runs in the 6th.

Ledden finished 1-for-3 with 3 RBI for Savannah, Waitkoss finished 1-for-3 with 2 RBI and Dudeck finished 1-for-3 with 1 RBI. Deathrage finished 1-for-3 with 1 RBI for Central.

On the mound for Savannah, Ledden pitched 4.2 innings and finished with 7 strikeouts and gave up 6 hits and 4 runs.

"We have a great team. We have a great fight. We're down but we're never out of it though," said Waitkoss. "We can always count on our guys to come back, whether we're down by 10 or whatever it is."

"We've played some really good teams here starting out the year. We're excited. We've seen some very good pitching all the way through," said Savannah head coach Erich Bodenhausen. "Guys that hit spots, guys that throw good curveballs, guys throwing in the upper 80s. We've battled all those guys and I think offensively we've done a very good job."

Savannah improves to 4-2 on the season and next plays at defending Class 4 State Champion Chillicothe on Tuesday, March 31st at 4:30 pm. Central drops to 2-2 and will next play at Smithville on Monday, March 30th at 4 pm.