Pulliam shuts out Cornell as Dutch roll to baseball sweep
Central College
PELLA—Central College’s Joel Pulliam (junior, Des Moines, Lincoln HS) tossed his third shutout of the season in a 3-0 baseball victory against Cornell College Friday before the Dutch cruised to an 11-3 win in the nightcap.
Pulliam threw the complete game, improving to 6-2. He gave up two hits, walked two and struck out six. Pulliam moves to first place on the season shutout leaderboard and matches Brett Mahan (2005-08) at the top of the career leaderboard with four. Adding a shutout from Dirk Lindaman (sophomore, Ankeny) earlier this season, the Dutch tied the team season record of four shutouts.
“Joel’s been consistent all year,” coach Adam Stevens said.
Meanwhile pinch hitter Josh Stanton (junior, Homer Glen, Ill., Lockport Township HS) broke a five-inning offensive standstill in the opener with a clutch right-centerfield double in the sixth. Shortstop Mike Furlong (junior, Davenport, Assumption HS) had doubled, left fielder Caleb Rangel (senior, Rock Island, Ill., Alleman Catholic HS) singled and both scored off Stanton’s first-pitch blast. Right fielder Jarred Lackey (senior, Somerton, Ariz., Cibola HS), who was intentionally walked, advanced to third and scored on a sacrifice fly by first baseman Seth Carson (sophomore, Woodridge, Ill., Downers Grove South HS).
“We had to work really hard to win game one,” Stevens said. “Cornell battled hard, but give our players credit to come up with the hits.”
The bats wasted little time in the second game, racking up 11 hits. The Dutch held a 3-0 lead after two innings with the help of five walks and Central broke things open with a four-run sixth inning. Third baseman Anthony Miller (senior, Davenport, Assumption HS) and Carson were each 2-for-2. Miller scored three times while Carson drove in two runs and scored twice. Center fielder Sam Stetzel (sophomore, Perry) and catcher Stanton also had two hits.
“We had a better approach in game two,” Stevens said. “We took some walks and hit some hard ground balls, which is what you have to do in games like this with the wind blowing in.”
A third-inning double by Rangel places him at the top of Central’s career list. He matches Michael Edwards (2005-08) and Adam Duerfeldt (2003-06) with 41 doubles.
Starting hurler Michael Jontz (sophomore, West Des Moines, Valley HS) got the win with five innings’ work. He gave up one hit, walked two and struck out six. Freshman Ryan Dusil (Cedar Rapids, Kennedy HS) allowed three runs on three hits in the sixth inning and junior Mike Werkheiser (junior, Stockton, Ill.) shut out the Rams in the final inning.
The Dutch (20-13, 10-8 conference) will complete the three-game Iowa Conference series with the Rams (3-24, 1-18 conference) Saturday at A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex in Pella. The nine-inning matchup is slated to begin at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on www.kniakrls.com with Eric Gotschall. A video webcast and live stats will be streamed at www.central.edu/athetlics.
“Cornell competed today,” Stevens said. “We’ll have to focus and be at our best tomorrow.”
