Dexter's Potts stymies Central

A promising start for the Central baseball team Saturday quickly went to pot

Make that Potts.

Dexter's Brad Potts settled down after a shaky first inning, blanking the Tigers the rest of the way as the Bearcats prevailed 4-1.

"He threw the ball real well," said Central coach Steve Williams after the Tigers dropped to 4-6 on the season. "We helped him out a little bit. We had chances in the first inning to get more runs than that."

Consecutive singles by Ramsey Scott and Chase Eubank with two out in the first put runners at first and second for the Tigers. Matt Chism lined one into the right-center gap for a double that plated Scott, Eubank moving to third. But they were stranded in scoring position when Chase Hagerty struck out to end the inning.

That final out proved to be a precursor of things to come as Potts limited the Tigers to two hits the rest of the way while striking out 15. He didn't walk a batter, struck out the side three times and stranded a Tigers runner at third by getting both Calvin Lovig and Trevor Propst swinging to end the fifth.

"It seemed like he got better placing his pitches as the game went on," said Eubank. "We just couldn't put the ball in play. You have to do that if you wanna score."

Dexter coach Brian Becker said Potts was able to settle down following Chism's gapper.

"After that he settled in and threw an outstanding game," Becker said. "She just shut Central down after that first inning. He's been doing that for us all year. It was just a great start by Brad."

Potts was able to get ahead in the count, which made his breaking ball that much more effective.

Central's Ramsey Scott singles against Dexter in the third inning Saturday, March 30, 2013 at Central. (Fred Lynch)

"Very rarely did he go to a full count on any batter," Becker said. "He got ahead, he stayed ahead and he put 'em away."

Meanwhile, the Bearcats went about overcoming the early deficit. They tied the score in the second when Jason Mattison scored from third on a wild pitch, and took the lead with two runs in the second. Logan Northern walked to open the inning, stole second, took third on a groundout and scored on Nick Noble's sacrifice fly. With the bases empty, Jordan Miller doubled to deep center, and Potts followed with a single to right, Miller beating a throw up the third-base line to score and make it 3-1.

Dexter added a final run in the fourth when Justin Aldridge singled, stole second and scored on Logan Northern's double off the left field fence.

"We started out slow," Becker said. "Their pitcher did a good job early. But the more we saw him, the more confident we got at the plate."

Central hurt its own chances by committing a pair of errors and generally failing to make plays on a wet, slippery field.

"We didn't bear down defensively, and they capitalized on it," Scott said.

The way Potts was throwing, it probably didn't make any difference.

"I always feel like I get stronger as the game goes on," Potts said after he evened his season mark at 1-1. "I settled in and got a little better organized. Cape is always a good team to play. You gotta make sure you're organized and go after them.

"All my pitches -- fastball, curveball, slider -- they were all working good for me today."

"Once he got the lead he felt comfortable," Williams noted. "He just aired it out and got tough."

Williams said the Tigers needed to be a little more disciplined at the aplate.

"We chased a few pitches above the belt, and those are hard to catch up to sometimes," he said. "And then we let some pitches by that we called strike three. We were not quite as selective as we needed to be."

* A second scheduled game against Ste. Genevieve was rained out.

Central 100 000 0 -- 1 5 2

Dexter 012 100 x -- 4 7 0

WP: Brian Potts (1-1). LP: Trevor Propst. 2B: Matt Chism (C), Jordan Miller 2 (D), Logan Northern (D). Multiple hits -- Central: Ramsey Scott 2-3; Dexter: Miller 2-3. Records: Central 4-6, Dexter 3-2.