Basic senior first baseman Cooper Sheff already had four hits and three RBIs when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning Friday.
He wasn’t finished.
Sheff crushed a fastball over the center-field fence for a grand slam to seal a 17-4 home win for Basic, ranked No. 3 in the Review-Journal’s Class 5A baseball rankings, over Centennial. The game ended after Sheff’s home run due to the 10-run mercy rule.
“We had the bases loaded, and I knew I was going to get a fastball,” Sheff said. “He gave me a first-pitch fastball, so I took it for a drive and that was it.”
Sheff went 5-for-5 with seven RBIs. Junior shortstop Ty Southisene went 4-for-5 with four RBIs and two stolen bases for the Wolves (19-5, 5-2 5A Desert League). Nine Basic players recorded a hit, and 13 reached base.
“We swung the bats really well today,” Basic coach Scott Baker said.
Basic led 1-0 after the first on an RBI single from Sheff, and a pair of singles to lead off the second ignited a four-run frame. Southisene’s sacrifice fly in the third gave the Wolves a 6-0 lead.
Basic starter Ben Smith kept Centennial (18-6, 5-3) off the scoreboard in the first three innings, stranding four runners.
The Bulldogs broke through against Smith with four runs in the fourth on two hits, aided by a pair of Basic errors.
With their lead trimmed to 6-4, the Wolves responded with three runs in the fourth.
“We need to go up there and put some good at-bats together. And we did,” Sheff, an Oregon commit, said. “We saw pitches well that we could drive, and luckily we got some runs on top of it.”
Centennial didn’t have another player reach base the rest of the game, as junior Tee Southisene retired all six batters he faced.
After the Wolves added two more runs in the fifth, they capped off an impressive offensive showing with a six-run sixth. Ty Southisene gave Basic a nine-run lead with a two-run double, and Sheff finished the game with his homer.
“He’s our guy,” Baker said of Sheff. “As he goes, we go. He’s our senior and our leader.”
Right fielder Alex Rhynes went 2-for-3 with two RBIs for Centennial, which had just three hits.
With the win, Basic jumps Centennial for third place in the league standings. The reigning 5A state champion Wolves are two games behind first-place Green Valley in the win column and one behind second-place Coronado.
Basic split its regular-season series with Green Valley and faces Coronado for a second time May 1 after losing to the Cougars 8-6 on April 8.
The Wolves host Cimarron-Memorial on Wednesday and play at Centennial next Friday.
“To end the week with a win, that’s huge for us,” Sheff said. “It’s good momentum for us to go into next week.”
Contact Alex Wright at [email protected]. Follow @AlexWright1028 on Twitter.
