DeRocher dominant in Dutch baseball win
AUBURNDALE, FLA. — A stellar spring continued at the plate for Central College baseball’s right fielder Colton DeRocher (sophomore, Sioux City, East HS) in a 13-12 win over Bowdoin College (Maine) Thursday.
The Dutch (7-1) trailed twice and were knotted at 12-12 before back-to-back balks by the Polar Bears (3-5) pitcher in the ninth inning plated the winning run.
DeRocher drove in five runs from the No. 4 spot in the lineup, tying a school record for hits in a game with five.
“He was almost a last-minute scratch because he has had food poisoning,” coach Casey Klunder said. “He was on it today. He hit on all counts and was much better with two strikes. He got a few more balls in play and they fell today. And good for him because we needed all of his RBI.”
Left fielder Ian Boline (senior, Alburnett), center fielder Logan McCoy (sophomore, Galva, Alta-Aurelia HS) and second baseman Lucas Farren (senior, Yorkville, Ill.) each added a pair of hits.
Marcus Wenzel (senior, Chicago, Ill., Luther North College Prep) was the winning pitcher after pitching the final nine outs. Kurby Vowels (junior, Waverly, Waverly-Shell Rock HS) started the game and went three innings. Nathan McCombs (sophomore, Treynor) tossed the middle three innings. Each allowed four runs.
“Nathan righted the ship after a rough start,” Klunder said. “It’s my fault because I left Kurby in one inning too long. One time through the batting order was the plan for him from the start and I got greedy. The positive thing for Nathan was that he finished better than he started.”
On the base paths, McCoy had a stolen base and the Dutch also moved up on three wild pitches and a passed ball.
“I like the way we’re running the bases,” Klunder said. “We’ve been aggressive and opportunistic. Boline was on second and he didn’t break stride coming around third on a wild pitch and he scores after the catcher bobbles it. That’s because he was being opportunistic.”
The Florida trip wraps up for the Dutch on Friday with a doubleheader of seven-inning games Friday at 9 a.m. in Winter Haven against the State University of New York – Polytechnic. Central defeated SUNY – Poly 19-12 on Monday.
