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Annemarie Jacques

Seneca High School's Tyler Cannon (3) is greeted at home plate by his teammates after his homer in the third inning of the Bobcats' win over rival Daniel on Friday.

CENTRAL — Through its first two region games of the season, the Seneca High School baseball team has been looking like nothing short a well-oiled machine at the plate.

And on Friday night, Daniel didn’t help itself by greasing up the Bobcats’ wheels when the teams got together in Central.

Just two days removed from a 15-run showing at Pickens, Seneca scored in all but one inning against the Lions, as it cruised to a 12-6 win to close out a successful week.

The Bobcats (4-1, 2-0 Western AAA) consistently showed their might at the plate, as Jacob Jalbert and Tyler Cannon both got home runs in the victory, while Matt Crowe also finished with a 3-for-3 showing at the plate to close out what has been an explosive week for the squad as it stayed perfect in region play.

“Offensively, I’m very excited about this team,” Seneca head coach Andy Bay said. “That’s two games in a row we’ve scored at least 12 runs, and in high school baseball, usually the team that hits is going to win. So far, it’s been in our favor.”

But on the flipside of that success were the shortcomings for Daniel (5-6, 0-2 Western AAA), which equaled the Bobcats’ hit total at nine despite the lopsided final score.

The Lions committed five errors on the night, and walked five batters, which Daniel head coach Andy Swords said was unacceptable.

“They put the ball in play, and when you’ve got a team that can put the ball in play, you can’t make mistakes behind your pitcher,” Swords said. “We can’t make those mistakes in the field to give them extra outs.”

Seneca’s first runs of the night came courtesy of its own doing however, as Adam Lacey picked up a two-run double to open the scoring with one out in the bottom of the first.

But the Lions fired back to tie the score in the bottom of the frame as Brandon Bryant scored from second on a passed ball and a sacrifice RBI from Matthew Craig knotted the score at 2-2.

And despite the ability to match those earned runs, the Lions faltered on defense in the second, as they allowed three walks and committed two errors on the way to a pair of Seneca runs.

“We did what we needed to do offensively with the exception of a couple of mistakes on the base paths, but in the very end, I think the errors and lack of throwing strikes put us in a hard position to come back,” Swords said.

The third inning saw Cannon hit a towering two-run homer into centerfield for Seneca, which was followed by a three-run, line drive shot into left field from Jalbert in the fifth to push the lead to 9-3.

Crowe added another RBI for the Bobcats in the sixth, and a Daniel error helped Kyle Edwards round out the scoring later in the frame to cap a strong Seneca outing.

“We’re just getting better offensively each day,” Bay said. “I’m proud of this team, and they’re off to a good start.”

In the losing effort, Daniel got multi-hit efforts from Craig, Sam Castle and Richard Dix.

Seneca will step out of region play for a home date with Central Columbia on Monday at 6 p.m., while the Lions will look for their first region win Tuesday night at Belton-Honea Path.

Seneca 12, Daniel 6

SHS 222 032 1 — 12 9 2

DWD 201 021 0 — 6 9 5

Pitching

IP H R BB K

W — Ross 5 7 5 3 3

L — Craig 5 6 9 5 3

Hitting

SHS — Crowe, 3-4, RBI; Jalbert 2-3, HR, 3 RBI, BB; Cannon, 1-1, HR, 2 RBI, BB

DWD — Craig, 2-3, 2 RBI; Dix, 2-3, RBI, BB; Castle, 2-4, 2B