Sectional-bound Central baseball team is big on freebies

~ Central will try to beat Hillsboro in a telltale statistical department today in the Class 4 sectionals

Central players and coaches will be most concerned with the final run totals on the scoreboard when the Tigers host Hillsboro in a Class 4 sectional baseball game today.

But the Tigers (16-9) have used a new barometer this season to keep track of their likely fate in a game. Central coach Steve Williams has employed a statistical device called freebies.

Williams learned of freebies at a coaches clinic before the season. It tracks the free bases the Tigers allow an opponent and how many free bases the opponent gives the Tigers in a game.

Free bases include walks, hit batters, balks, wild pitches, passed balls, errors and throwing to wrong bases and missing the cutoff man.

Central pitcher Andrew Hileman throws to first baseman Andrew Williams on a pickoff attempt in a game earlier this seson. (Laura Simon)

"It's almost foolproof," Williams said. "Almost every time we win the freebie battle, we win the game. If we allow fewer free bases than our opponent does, normally we win. By the same token, the times we allowed more free bases, we lost."

The stress on not giving up free bases on defense is coupled with an offense that tries to maximize freebies, which means patient at-bats that can result in walks and alert baserunning.

"It's really paid off for us," Williams said. "It's showed our kids by being able to see a statistic. 'You know what, that really does work. Every time the other team gets more freebies, we win.' The kids have bought into that."

Central senior left fielder J.P. Huston said Williams will bring out the freebie count after each game.

"It's just as important as the home run total or the strikeout total," Huston said. "The freebie total is a big stat for the Central Tigers."

Cape Central pitcher Andrew Hileman attempts the pick off at first with Andrew Williams Tuesday, May 10, 2011 during the third place game of the SEMO Conference Tournament in Jackson. (Laura Simon)

"Basically we win the freebie battle, we win the game," Central senior center fielder Austin Davis said. "We try to do the little things to stay on top. The big thing in the outfield is hit your cutoff man, so we stress that."

Williams said the lowest freebie total the Tigers have posted this year is three, which he said is good for a high school team.

"I've seen both us and our opponent in double figures," Williams said. "If you walk four or five and make two or three errors, that's seven or eight right there. You allow someone to take an extra base. ... It can add up pretty quickly if you're not careful. It snowballs, and once it starts to do that, it's hard to turn it off."

Davis said players don't want to be the one that contributes to the Tigers' freebie total.

"It's definitely not a good feeling," Davis said.

Central's Andrew Williams reaches second base safely as Sikeston second baseman Blake Newman grabs a high throw during the fourth inning of the Class 4 District 1 title game Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at Farmington, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

Williams said the Tigers have not been in double figures for freebies the last two weeks, which included a run of three victories in the Class 4 District 1 tournament.

The Tigers committed only one error in each of the district games.

Williams said when error totals have been higher in recent games, his team has not compounded the problem with other freebies, such as walks.

Winning the freebie battle against Hillsboro (12-13) in today's 4:30 p.m. sectional would go a long way to putting Central in Thursday's quarterfinals against either Vianney (23-8) or Eureka (17-10), where they again would try to win the battle of the freebies.

"Freebies have been a big part of our season," Huston said. "I mean we're not the biggest, strongest team, so one of the ways we win is good team chemistry. We have to play good defense and not give up free walks, free bases on errors. Every game we try to win the freebie battle. Most of the games we won the freebie battle, we've won the game. They kind of go hand in hand."