Sometimes, good things come to those who wait. For the University City Centurions, the waiting period is officially over.

Like two long lost brothers, the Centurions and Madison Warhawks finally found each other on Thursday, May 11. On the agenda, was this little matter of a baseball game to be played.

The two Central League rivals were supposed to have hooked up exactly one week earlier at the Warhawks' field. But, thanks to Madison's protest over a proposed school dress code, University City had to accept a victory by forfeit.

"We were real eager to play them," said Centurion Adrian Pimentel.

This time, however, their meeting would take place at University City's home park. The Centurions wasted little time in taking out their frustrations on the elusive Warhawks, jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead.

In the bottom half of the third inning, Madison tried to change their luck by changing pitchers. Chris Ryan took the hill for the Warhawks, but received little help from his teammates.

Kevin Makinson stepped into the batter's box for University City and promptly drove a pitch to the outfield. Madison's centerfielder bobbled the ball, and when all was said and done, Makinson was standing on third base.

Shortly thereafter, he scored on a ground out, putting the Centurions ahead, 4-0, until the bottom of the sixth inning. That's when University City struck again.

Pimentel led off with a triple and scored on a base hit by Ryan Cohen, giving the Centurions a final victory margin of 5-0. Cohen enjoyed a big day at the plate, going 4-for-4, with two runs batted in, and a run scored.

Mike Saipe also shined for University City. The senior right-hander pitched seven strong innings, striking out six, to break the school's career strikeout record with a total of 176.

It was an all-around tough day for the Warhawks, who lost one of their top players, Winston Timothy, when he pulled a hamstring and had to leave the game. Troy Hubbard was the losing pitcher for Madison, going two innings and allowing three runs, on four hits, while striking out three.

"They (University City) just completely shut us down," said pitcher Robert Coffman, who hurled the last two innings for the Warhawks.

The Centurions finished off the week in fine fashion with an 11-1 annihilation of Mira Mesa last Saturday afternoon. Nathan Wampach pitched and got the win for University City, which improved its record to 19-8 overall and 6-5 in the Central League.

Learn more about this author, Rob Stone.
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