> SOUTHERN INDIANA —  The Floyd Central boys’ baseball team pounded out 14 hits against five different Jeffersonville pitchers Wednesday, capturing an 8-5 win over the Red Devils at Don Poole Field.

“Our biggest problem this year has been defense,” Floyd Central (6-7) coach Casey Laduke said. “For the most part, we’ve been a pretty good hitting team. We can always improve on that, and this was one of our better nights, but that hasn’t been our weak spot.”

Third baseman Garrett Shanks and right fielder Kyle Neafus combined to go 7-7 on the night and drove in three of Floyd Central’s eight runs. Shanks, in the No. 2 spot, doubled to left field in the top of the first inning and crossed home plate on a Jacob Snodgrass single to give the Highlanders a 1-0 lead with Jeff coming to bat for the first time.

During the bottom half of the inning, Jeffersonville shortstop Drew Ellis slammed a towering home run to left-center field off a 3-1 curveball from Floyd Central hurler Derek Despain that plated both Ellis and Isaac Crafton. The 2-1 lead at the end of the first inning would be the Red Devils’ (5-5) only lead of the night.

An RBI double from Neafus tied up the ballgame following a Connor Curry single, and Ross Lundy scored on a passed ball and Shanks added an RBI single later in the second inning, and Floyd Central led 4-2 after the top of the second.

Meanwhile, Despain (1-0), who struggled in the bottom half of the first inning in giving up the homer to Ellis, settled down over the next few innings, holding Jeffersonville scoreless in the second, third and most of the fourth innings. The junior right-hander normally comes out of the bullpen for the Highlanders, but a series of rainouts and Floyd Central’s busy schedule forced him into a starting role.

Despain exited the matchup in the bottom of the fifth inning in place of freshman Colton Kimm, who notched the save for Floyd Central.

Despain gave up three runs, walked two and struck out four in his five innings of work. Kimm gave up a run, but struck out Ellis and Dalton Conway in the seventh to close out the matchup.

“We came in here with the mindset of kind of piecing this one together, but Derek did a good job and we really left him in there longer than we expected,” Laduke said. “And Colton ... he did a great job for a freshman. He’s going to be a big piece of what we’re going to do in the next few years.”

Floyd Central blew the game open in the top half of the fourth inning, scoring three runs on three consecutive RBI singles from Cody Sunderhaus, Despain and Shanks. Following a half-hour delay caused by lightning in the area, the Red Devils climbed to within three following a sacrifice fly from Hayden Robb that scored Chandler Dale in the bottom of the sixth.

Mark Meyer (1-2) notched the loss for Jeffersonville, giving up three runs in 1 2/3 innings. Charlie Garwood, Nick Gallagher, Aaron Wenger and Trent Astle also took the mound for the Red Devils.

Ellis was 2-for-4 for Jeffersonville.

The Red Devils travel to Jasper on Friday, while Floyd Central hosts South Central Friday.



FLOYD CEN.    130 310 0—8 14 1

JEFF    200 111 0—5 10 1

    W — Despain (1-0), L — Meyer (1-2). 2B — Shanks (F), Kimm (F), Lundy (F), Wenger (J). 3B — Crafton (J). HR — Ellis (J).

    Records — Floyd Central 6-7, Jeffersonville 5-5.