Big Red’s Landon Crosier safely dives into home plate ahead of a tag from Catholic Central catcher Mason Meeks. - Andrew Grimm

Thursday evening, as the Big Red band’s rendition of the song blared through the speakers at the Crimson Complex after an 11-4 victory over cross-town foe Catholic Central on senior day, it was one of those such days for Big Red baseball.

Big Red, which was also wrapping up its regular season with the opening round of the tournament set for Monday, scored nine runs over its last three turns at bat to pull away from the Crusaders.

“It’s a good song to hear,” said Big Red head coach Fred Heatherington, who was recognized during the contest for this being his final season after 36 years. “People don’t know how much it means to people at Big Red when they hear that song. We played OK, a win is a win and we’re getting ready for the tournament.

“It’s a good win for the seniors. They gave us everything they had for three or four years and they waited their turn and they got their turn and did well. Hopefully we’re not done.”

ig Red pitcher AJ Borsch delivers. - Andrew Grimm

Both teams plated a run in the first inning, Big Red taking a 2-1 lead in the third and doubling it in the fourth before breaking things open in the fifth and sixth.

“We got some timely hits later in the game,” Heatherington said. “We didn’t get them early in the game, but we did later in the game. We played good enough to win, now we have to get ready for Monday. Monday is a big day.”

For Central (4-9), it was one that simply slipped away after the Crusaders hung tough early on.

“Really the key to the game was we had way too many uncompetitive at-bats and too many uncompetitive pitches,” Central head coach Don Young said. “When we had competitive at-bats and pitches, we got stuff done. We had the bases loaded and didn’t get the runs in, we’ve got to get runs in those situations, that changes the game. We never gave up, but we just made too many mistakes. We’re inexperienced, and we’ve made a lot of strides from the beginning of the season.

“There were a lot of good things to take away. That’s a good baseball team we played, their record is not indicative of how good they are because they play a great schedule and, especially early on, I felt we were right there with them.

WAIVED HOME — Big Red’s Nicky Lovato is waived arounf third base by head coach Fred Heatherington on his way to scoring a run. - Andrew Grimm

“We’ll focus on the positives and try to take them with us, but like I keep telling the guys we have to take the next step.”

The Crusaders struck first in the top of the first with a Joseph Vranish RBI single, Big Red answering with back-to-back two-out doubles in the bottom half, first from Matt Fabbro, followed by Nolan Blackburn’s RBI two-baser that knotted the score.

Fabbro put a ball in play to plate a run after a single and a walk put a runner in scoring position in the third for Big Red’s first lead of the game.

Nicky Lovato and Royal Mayo hit back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth.

In the fifth Big Red drew three walks to load the bases with no one out and Myles Cooper, who had a walk-off hit on Tuesday, drove in a run with a sac fly, Caleb Conrad knocked in another run with an RBI single and Jaggar Rawson put a ball in play that resulted in an error and other run coming across.

Catholic Central’s Michael Fabbro heads to third base. - Andrew Grimm

An inning later, catcher Kail Simmons drew a bases-loaded walk, Landon Crosier drove in a run with a ground ball and Brenden DoBreff knocked in a run with an RBI single, all with no outs, to cap the scoring for the home team.

Central’s other runs came on a Matty Jones fly ball that dropped in the outfield in the fifth, a two-out RBI single from Eli Fayak in the sixth and a Tommy Symington RBI groundout in the seventh.

Big Red pitcher AJ Borsch fired the first 5 2/3 innings in earning the win, allowing two earned runs while striking out 10 batters and walking five.

Fayak, who recently returned to the mound following an injury, took the loss for Central with a punch out and three walks over the first four innings.

UP NEXT

Catholic Central's Tommy Symington makes a throw to first for an out. - Andrew Grimm

Catholic Central: Also wrapped up its regular season and will prepare for tournament play Monday. Central is the No. 9 seed in the Division VII, East District bracket and travels to No. 3 Conotton Valley on Monday at 5 p.m.

Big Red: Is the No. 4 seed in the East portion of the East/Southeast Division III bracket and will host No. 5 seed Zanesville on Monday at the Crimson Complex. That game is may have a later start time than usual, tentatively set for a 6:30 p.m. opening pitch.

Big Red 11, Catholic Central 4

CC 1-0-0 0-1-1 1 — 4 4 3

BR 1-0-1 2-4-3 x — 11 8 3

REACTION — Big Red’s Landon Crosier (8) reacts from the on-deck circle as AJ Borsch heads for home plate to score a run during Thursday’s game at the Crimson Complex. Big Red pulled away from Catholic Central for an 11-4 victory. - Andrew Grimm

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (4-9): Fayak (LP, 4IP, 4R, 4ER, 6H, 1K, 3BB), Wright (1IP, 7R, 5ER, 1H, 1K, 7BB), Symington (0IP, 0R, 0H, 0K, 1BB), DiCarlo (1IP, 0R, 1H, 0K, 0BB) and Meeks. Fayak S, RBI; Vranish S, RBI; Symington RBI; Meeks S; Jones S.

BIG RED (11-13): Borsch (WP, 5 2/3IP, 3R, 2ER, 4H, 10K, 5BB, 1HBP), Griner (1 1/3IP, 1R, 1ER, 0H, 1K, 1BB, 1HBP) and Simmons. Blackburn D, RBI; Fabbro D, RBI; Mayo 2S, RBI; Conrad S, 2RBIs; Crosier S, RBI; DoBreff S, RBI; Lovato S, RBI; Cooper RBI; Simmons RBI.