From the Ottumwa Courier

CHARITON — The Centerville baseball team pounded out 40 runs and 31 hits on the way to a sweep of Chariton on Monday. The Big Reds took a 17-8 win in the first game and a 23-6 win in the nightcap.

The two victories wrap up the outright South Central Conference crown for Centerville. The Big Reds are 16-3 in South Central Conference play and 26-7 overall.

“This one is nice,” said Centerville coach Bill Huisman.

Jordan McCoy, Thayler Carter, Michael Kauzlarich, Zach Armington and A.J. Hoffman all belted home runs in the two games for Centerville, as the Big Reds took advantage of inexperienced Chariton pitching.

“We hit the ball hard,” said Huisman. “They threw some younger pitchers against us, and we really stuck it to them. It was nice that we were able to get some kids off the bench to hit, and it was nice that they hit the ball pretty hard, too.”

Centerville (26-7, 16-3) will face Chariton again on Friday when they take on the Chargers to open district play at 7 p.m. at Centerville.

Centerville 17, Chariton 8

R H E

Cville 3 0 (13) 0 0 1 - 17 15 2

Char 3 0 0 4 0 1 - 8 13 4

Centerville battery — Patrick Harshman (W, 9-1) (3IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 3K, 3BB), Michael Kauzlarich (3IP, 7H, 5R, 3ER, 3K, 1BB) Trent McFarland catching.