Central notches shutout in spring break baseball sweep
Central College
FORT MYERS, FLA.—The Central College baseball team scored two wins at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic Friday, blanking Lawrence University (Wis.) 12-0 before capturing a 6-3 victory over Lasell College (Mass.).
Junior Dirk Lindaman (Ankeny) tossed a four-hitter in the opener, striking out two in 6.1 innings. Bret Bell (senior, Jewell, South Hamilton HS) came in to close the seventh inning.
“Dirk threw really well and we played good defense behind him,” coach Adam Stevens said.
The Dutch committed no errors in their fourth shutout of the season. Offensively, Central blasted 13 hits and took advantage of four Lawrence (0-2) errors.
The squad posted three runs in the second inning and two in the fourth before breaking the game wide open with four runs in the fifth. Central added three tallies in the seventh, ending the game early with a 10-run margin.
“Our offense executed and we ran the bases well,” Stevens said. “We jumped up right away and never looked back.”
Jordan Judkins (sophomore, Marshalltown) was 4-for-5 driving in two runs and scoring twice. Max Seeman (senior, Panora, Panorama HS) had three hits, bringing in four runs, and Adam Ariola (sophomore, Bloomington, Ill., Normal HS) had three hits and scored twice.
Central battled for the win in the nightcap. The Dutch scored early with two runs in the first and one in the second, but Lasell (0-7) responded with a run in the fourth and two in the sixth to knot the score at 3-3.
“It was a dogfight,” Stevens said. “We were up a little bit and then made some base-running mistakes and give Lasell credit, they did a great job and came back.”
Judkins sparked the offense in the eighth inning with a double down the left field line. He advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Ariola and scored the go-ahead run off a sacrifice fly from Seth Carson (junior, Woodridge, Ill., Downers Grove South HS). Central added two more tallies to secure the victory.
“It was good to see our players find a way to take the lead,” Stevens said.
Judson McKown (sophomore, Maple Plain, Minn., Orono HS) was tagged with the win, throwing the last three innings. Ryan Dusil (sophomore, Cedar Rapids, Kennedy HS) had the start and fanned four batters.
Central improved to 9-3 overall and compiled a 7-2 spring break mark.
Stevens saw many positives throughout the week in Florida.
“We consistently pitched well and played good defense,” he said. “If you do those two things you’ll be in every game.”
But there’s still some fine-tuning to be done.
“We’ve got things we need to work on,” Stevens said. “We just need to practice; we’ve been playing so many games. We’ll hopefully improve and sharpen things up next week in practice to get ready for the conference season.”
Central opens Iowa Conference play hosting Wartburg College. The three-game series begins March 23 at 6 p.m. The Knights are 6-6 overall going into a doubleheader Saturday against Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.)
