The Central Tigers opened the new 2026 baseball season by doing two things on the same day.

The Tigers won their season opener 10-6 at Warner on March 10 to make a winner of new coach Colby Thompson in his debut.

However, the week ended on a down note as the Tiger suffered an 11-0 four-inning, runruled loss to the host Checotah Wildcats last Friday afternoon.

In the win over Warner, the Tigers (1-1) rallied from a 6-5 fourth-inning deficit by scoring three runs in the fifth inning and twice in the seventh inning to get the come-from-behind win.

For the game, Kaw-Liga Lewis was 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored and a run batted in, Paitton Merrill was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI and Tite Cox doubled with an RBI for Central.

Cox (1-0) got the win in relief as he went 2.1 innings with a strikeout. Kiefer Bailey got the start and went 1.2 innings with four Ks, then Lewis went the next 1.1 innings with three strikeouts. Ryker Miller got the save, going the final 1.2 innings with four Ks.

In the loss to Checotah, the Tigers were no-hit by Checotah’s combination of Mason Rainbolt and Eli Patterson. Rain bolt struck out six batters in three innings, while Patterson fanned two batters in his inning of work.

Ryker Miller (0-1) suffered the loss, going 2.1 innings with four strikeouts. Cox got the final two outs of the game.