Tigers Rally Late to Beat Camp Point Central on Senior Night

Canton MO – The Canton Tigers battled back from a three-run deficit to earn a 7-5 win over the Camp Point Central Panthers on Senior Night.

Senior Brett Ehrenreich got the start on the mound for Canton, while Central turned to senior Colton Cooley. After a quiet first inning, the Panthers struck first in the top of the second. A walk and a base hit put two on, and a fielder’s choice advanced sophomore Caleb Petersen to third. Sophomore Colin Likes followed with an RBI single to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. Ehrenreich leaned on his defense to get out of the inning, but the Canton bats remained quiet.

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Brett Ehrenreich gets set to deliver a pitch

Camp Point Central added on in the third. A string of base hits put sophomore Briggs Wiskirchen and senior Garrett Neisen in scoring position, and freshman Kolin Bockhold delivered a two-RBI single to make it 3-0. The Panthers tacked on another in the fourth when Wiskirchen drove in senior Nate Peters to push the lead to 4-0.

Canton finally answered in the bottom of the fourth. Senior Bleu Taylor singled, and sophomore Cameron O’Brien followed with a towering two-run homer to left field, cutting the deficit in half, 4-2.

Central responded quickly in the fifth. Freshman Jace Howes singled, advanced on a wild pitch and a groundout, and came home on a balk to make it 5-2. Ehrenreich worked out of further trouble, and the Tigers came back to the plate with urgency.

“In those middle innings, we just kind of hung in there,” said Canton head coach Andy Anderson. “Brett made some pitches to get us out of jams. Bleu got us a couple pitches to get us out of jams. Kept us in the game close enough to be able to make the rally late.”

In the bottom of the fifth, senior Preston Brewer singled, followed by a walk to junior Drew Gottman. Ehrenreich reached to load the bases with no outs. A walk to junior Ian Burbridge scored Brewer to make it 5-3, but the Tigers couldn’t add more and went into the sixth needing a shutdown inning.

Taylor came in to relieve Ehrenreich and delivered a crucial scoreless sixth inning.

“I think it showed when we kept them there, we started battling back,” Taylor said. “So we kind of took over the momentum there.”

Sophomore Jayden Shuman led off the bottom of the sixth with a single. Walks to junior Kaden Oliver and Brewer once again loaded the bases. A walk to Gottman scored Shuman and brought Canton within one. With two outs and the pressure mounting, the Tigers stayed disciplined at the plate. Three straight walks to Burbridge, Taylor, and junior Drew Logsdon brought in three more runs to give Canton its first lead of the game, 7-5.

“I thought we did a good job to lay off some pitches,” Anderson said. “Got a couple critical hits, just some bloopers that fell in the right spot.”

Taylor returned to the mound in the top of the seventh and shut the door, retiring Camp Point Central in order to seal the win.

“It feels good to get the win on Senior Night,” Taylor said. “That was the only goal today.”

Camp Point’s seniors
L-R Colton Colley, Nate Peters, Garrett Neisen

After the game, the Tigers joined the Panthers in recognizing Camp Point Central’s seniors—Colton Cooley, Garrett Neisen, and Nate Peters—before celebrating their own seniors: Bleu Taylor, Wyatt Anderson, Brett Ehrenreich, and Preston Brewer.

“First and foremost, they are good guys to coach, to be around, and teammates,” said Anderson. “They’ve grown up playing a lot of baseball. And they’re just good people, that’s the most important thing.”