Most men’s Church League games this season have been of the blowout variety, but Thursday saw three games go the distance as teams jockey for position in the upcoming Church League tournaments.Centertown kept its winning streak intact by defeating Hebron 25-20, while Covenant topped Central 17-14 and First Assembly beat Team X-treme 25-17. The lone run-rule victory came when the Believers beat First Baptist 22-6.Coming off a big victory over the Christian Warriors in Men’s A division play, Centertown kept rolling by beating Hebron by five.A 12-run fourth inning, led by Matt Wilson’s three-run home run, proved to be the difference as Centertown locked up a top-two finish in the division.Wilson, Marty Powers, Josh Winfree and Kent Winfree each had two hits as Centertown sent 16 batters to the plate to turn a 12-10 deficit into a 10-run lead.Jody Denney and Michael Thrower tried to bring Hebron back as the top two hitters in the Hebron order finished with five hits apiece, but it wasn’t enough as the rally fell five runs short in the sixth inning.Josh Winfree and Jordan Powers led Centertown with four hits each.Chris Madewell’s three-run home run in the fourth inning was the turning point as Covenant beat Central by three.The long ball gave Covenant an 11-4 advantage and the team never relinquished the lead.Madewell, Jake Driver, Scott Rubley, Zack Rubley and Ryan Aughinbaugh led Covenant with three hits apiece. Slayden Rogers had four hits to lead Central.First Assembly went into the top of the seventh clinging to a 19-17 lead against Team X-treme, but a two-out, two-run triple by Matt Eubanks and RBI singles by Bobby McCormick, Chris McCormick, Dustin Cherry and Denny Vaughn helped power the team to an eight-run win.John Barber finished with four hits in the loss for Team X-treme.Scott Harrell’s 4-for-4 night, which included his fifth home run this season, led the Believers to the only blowout victory in four games Tuesday.Harrell blasted his fifth home run in the second inning, a two-run shot that helped the Believers take a 10-1 lead early.Kendal Wooten helped put the finishing touches on the victory as his two-run, inside-the-park home run gave the Believers a 22-2 lead entering the bottom of the fifth.Ryan Cooper’s two-run single capped off a four-run inning for First Baptist, but the team needed 11 runs to keep the game going.Omar Benitez joined Harrell with four hits as the Believers secured a top-two spot in the Men’s B division.
Church league men