Cameron Beck slugged his first career home run in a 3-1 win over Kearney at Aurora Friday night. But he made an even bigger play in the top of the third inning, motoring home from second base on an infield single by Austin Atkins, scoring the eventual winning run in Republics first win of the season.
“I was always taught, ‘Always run your hardest,” so whenever I saw the first baseman take it, I automatically thought that there’s a chance,” Beck says of his base-running play. “I kept on sprinting, sprinting, and … whenever I was rounding third, I saw the umpire say ‘Safe.’ Well, I’m not going to stop. So I just kept on running and beat it out.”
Beck, batting ninth in the lineup, followed up his base-running heroics with a display of power that caught even him by surprise.
“My goal was to at least hit a home run before I graduate, but I was still working on my fundamentals,” he says. “When I hit it, I was very skeptical. I saw it go, and I thought maybe it hit the fence. But then I saw everyone in the dugout jumping around.”
The Tigers got a strong outing from starting pitcher Josh Gentry, who allowed just three hits in five innings before being pulled because of the state-mandated pitch limit (a new rule this year). Gentry struck out eight and walked five, before being pulled for Blake Messier.
“It’s pretty frustrating , but I knew Blake had my back, because he usually does,” Gentry says.
Messier delivered two scoreless innings of one-hit baseball to pick up the save. He struck out four and walked none.
The Tigers improve to 1-4. They travel to Springfield Hillcrest April 5 to make up a game that was rained out earlier this week.
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American Family Baseball Tiger of the Game
Cameron Beck scored from second base on an infield single to give the Tigers a lead they’d never relinquish — but he wasn’t done yet. Beck muscled up for his first career home run, depositing the ball over the left field fence in the 5th inning to give Republic an insurance run. He’s our American Family Baseball Tiger of the Game.
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