The Chatham Central baseball team swept its in-county rival Jordan-Matthews to win its first two games of the season last week.
After starting the year 0-4, the Bears reached their highest run totals of the season with a 9-4 victory in the first game on March 6 and an 14-1 rout in the second game Friday.
Chatham Central wrapped up the game two victory in five innings thanks to a six-run explosion in the top of the fifth sparked by sophomore Carson Jackson sending sophomore Brett Phillips home for a 9-1 lead.
Seniors Ben Wilson and Carter King brought home three more runners (one for Wilson and two for King) with consecutive singles. During King’s final at-bat of the night, senior Brady Phillips scored on a wild pitch, contributing to the Bears’ first double digit run total of the year.
King had the best night at the plate for Chatham Central, going 3-for-3 and knocking in four RBIs in game two. His first hit in the top of the first inning, a single to center field, sent home Jackson and junior Brayden Brewer for a 3-0 lead.
Including a ground ball by Wilson that scored Brett Phillips for the Bears’ first run Friday, Chatham Central scored four more runs in the first inning, making it two innings with six runs on the night.
A triple from senior Reid Albright brought in two runs (Wilson and King), and junior Miguel Ramirez’s fly out immediately after allowed Albright to reach home and give Chatham Central a commanding 6-0 lead early in the game.
The first contest of the two-game series was much closer, though.
Down 4-3 entering the bottom of the fourth inning, Chatham Central scored four runs in that inning alone to flip the game back in its favor.
“I still didn’t think we were very good at the plate, but we had good enough at-bats,” Chatham Central coach Brett Walden said. “Sometimes you’ve got to win them that way and win your at-bats that way. Even though they’re not great at-bats, find a way to get on base. I thought they did that all night.”
After a single from Brady Phillips and two early outs, senior Zane Overman clutched up with a single to send Phillips in for the game-tying run. The bases were loaded with Jackson and Wilson being walked in the following at-bats, setting up King for his crucial single to left field that sent in two go-ahead scores.
“The other two pitches, I was kind of out in front of it, so I was in my head just thinking stay back, short to the ball and just try to slap it the other way,” King said. “I ended up pulling it, but it still got down for a hit.”
Sophomore Reid Caviness contributed to the decisive fourth inning with his own single immediately after King’s that knocked in freshman Iker Vicente for a 7-4 lead.
“Their pitchers were behind most of the night, so that was helpful for us,” Walden said. “We were opportunistic. When they were not really good on the mound at times, we were able to take advantage of that. So sometimes, you have to win them that way.”
Prior to the fourth inning, Jordan-Matthews responded to Chatham Central’s three-run output in the second inning with its own three runs in the third.
Immediately after Jordan-Matthews sophomore Gavin Davis tied the game at three with a single in the third inning, junior Jacob Eubanks put the Jets ahead by one with a double to center field that brought Elvis Nina-Chay to home plate.
Even without a stellar pitching night from the Bears’ pitching staff, Chatham Central was able to shut out Jordan-Matthews for the next four innings.
“We started throwing more strikes,” Walden said. “That was the biggest thing. And working ahead. If you’re working ahead, you’re going to be successful a lot. Coach Staley does a really good job with our pitching analytics, and he’s tried to stress to them that something like 80% of the time we get a first-pitch strike, we get the guy out.”
Chatham Central has had a rough start to the 2025 season, losing by more than six runs in the three consecutive losses leading up to game one against the Jets. The Bears hope to turn things around after the rivalry wins and stack more victories in its next stretch of games.
“We lost a lot of production to graduation,” Walden said. “There’s some guys that have played and been here that are going to have to take on a much larger role, and I don’t think we’re even close to what this team can be.”
Jordan-Matthews has also struggled to score in its 0-4 start to the season, recording just one run in three of its first four losses. The Jets last started a season with four straight losses in 2017 when they started 0-6.
