Picture courtesy of Tanner Colvin

Salina Central Oscar Perez just might have the best job on Salina Central’s baseball roster.

At least he thinks so.

As the Mustangs’ senior catcher, he has a front-row seat for a Mustang pitching staff that through the first dozen games of the season has been nothing short of dominating.

“Those guys are a lot of fun,” Perez said after Central pitchers Bodie Rodriguez and Grayton Gross shut down rival Salina South in a doubleheader sweep Friday at Dean Evans Stadium. “I’ve been growing up with those guys and I actually played against them for a long part of my life, but I was able to get them on my summer team and then got to catch them in high school.”

Senior Oscar Perez

“It’s been a lot of fun. (Rodriguez and Gross) are two of my favorites for sure.”

By beating South 10-0 in five innings behind a three-hit, six-strikeout performance from Rodriguez and then 7-0 with Gross allowing two hits and striking out 10 in 6 2/3 innings — junior Jaxon Lewick recorded the final two outs — Central improved to 11-1. The Mustangs currently are ranked No. 3 in Class 5A heading into Tuesday’s doubleheader at No. 7 Goddard (9-3).

Seniors Rodriguez and Gross are just two members of a Mustang staff that so far has posted a 1.38 earned run average, allowing just 16 earned runs with five shutouts and three more games giving up a single run.

Senior Chance Hogan (2-0), who was scheduled to start Tuesday’s opener at Goddard, has yet to allow an earned run in 15 innings, while Rodriguez (4-0) has a 0.30 ERA over 23 innings and Gross (2-0) a 1.29 ERA over 16 1/3. Senior Henry Tibbits (7.97 ERA) and junior Eli Kreighbaum (0.00) also have started games on the mound, while Lewick (0.00) and senior Parker Graves (2.33) have pitched strictly in relief.

Mark Vaughn credits improved pitching and defense for the Mustangs’ blazing start after they went 17-10 last year in his debut season as head coach.

Head coach Mark Vaughn

“We’ve got good arms,” Vaughn said. “Bodie, Grayton, and we’ve got Eli and Chance. We have a deep pitching staff.”

“We thought we were going to be pretty good offensively, which we were (against South). We hadn’t really been the last four games before this, so it was nice to see some offense.”

The Mustangs’ success so far has not come as a surprise to Gross, who missed the start of the season with an injury but has come back strong to also lead the team in hitting with a .444 average, including three home runs and 14 runs batted in.

Senior Grayton Gross

“We all have a tight bond and we’re playing high level baseball, which is what I expected,” Gross said. “We’re a really talented team and definitely the best high school ball team I’ve been a part of.”

“We have lots of leadership, we get on each other if we’re being lazy and we all work super hard. We’re super-close friends and we have great chemistry.”

Rodriguez, who like Gross was a member of Central’s state championship football team last fall, said there has been a natural carryover to baseball.

Senior Bodie Rodriguez

“It definitely carries on,” he said. “I think just knowing we’ve got a great group of guys that like each other helps a lot. We just have a lot of chemistry.”

Perez, a lifelong catcher — his favorite professional player is Kansas City Royals namesake Salvador Perez — said Friday’s pitching performances from Rodriguez and Gross against South were simply par for the course.

“They’re able to locate their spots for every single one of their pitches,” said Perez, who will continue to team with them next year at Butler Community College. “It’s a lot of fun.”

“They’re controlling the game, and it’s something I don’t have to worry about from them. They’re always going to give you a quality outing.”

While Mustang pitchers are dominating on the mound, they also have received plenty of defensive help. The infield of Graves at first base, Hogan at second, junior Griffin Hall at short and Kreighbaum at third made just one error in the South doubleheader. Senior Keaton Smith is a fixture in center, while Rodriguez, Gross and Julian Espada have alternated in the corner outfield spots.

Offensively, Gross is the only hitter with a .400 average, but Rodriguez is batting .370 with a team-high 15 RBIs after belting three doubles and a home run against South. Designated hitter Aidan Hammond is hitting .364, Perez .361 with 13 RBIs and Kreighbaum .310.

Central is just two years removed from its last state tournament appearance, a third-place finish in 2024, but with nine seniors on the roster there is an urgency to get back.

“I think we’re a really good team, and any team that beats us is going to have to play their best,” Gross said.

He gets no argument from his fellow seniors.

“Our goal is to win state, but we definitely want to make another appearance,” Rodriguez said. “It kind of sucks not getting to go last year, but we’ve worked hard this offseason.”

Vaughn, a 2013 Central graduate and former Mustang standout before going on to a college career at Arkansas Tech, was part of two state tournament teams his freshman and sophomore years, likes his team’s chances in the postseason.

“We’ve got a great group of seniors,” he said. “Really just a good group in general.”

The first step for the Mustangs is to get to state. But given their fast start, they’re now aiming even higher.

“When we first started our winter workouts, that was our goal that we talked about all the time just going back to state,” Perez said. “But we’re not going back to state just to go, we’re going back to win it this year.”

“This is definitely the year to do it. We’re a state champion-caliber team.”