Central drops opener of league baseball tournament

Central College

CEDAR RAPIDS — Central College coach Matt Schirm knew the Iowa Conference tournament would be a tough battle and he was right.

The sixth-seeded Dutch (20-21) fell in the opening round of the league tournament 5-4 in 10 innings to No. 3 seed Buena Vista (25-15). The Beavers opened the scoring with a run in the third inning, but the Dutch responded with three of their own. Teams traded runs until it was a tie game in the fifth before Buena Vista scored the game-winning run on a single to right field in the 10th.

Starting pitcher junior Dylan Diveney (Marshalltown) threw six innings, allowing four runs and striking out three batters.

“Dylan did what he always does and kept us in the game,” said Schirm.

Freshman pitcher Zach Edwards (Des Moines, Lincoln HS) was credited the loss, throwing 3+ innings, allowing three hits and a lone run.

Sophomore shortstop Garrett Saunders (Bonaparte, Van Buren HS) went 2-for-4 including a walk and a run scored, senior right fielder Seth Griffiths (Ottumwa) had two hits in four plate appearances, scored a run and walked once and senior second baseman Noah Stochl (New Hampton) went 1-for-3 with two runs batted in. Central reached base via walk 11 times and held Buena Vista without a free pass.

“We had a good approach at the plate today,” said Schirm. “We’re going to need our offense to continue to play well for us to win the tournament.”

Central continues tournament play Friday with a matchup against No. 4 seed Luther College with first pitch at 10 a.m. at Veteran’s Park at Cedar Rapids. Luther (25-16) lost to No. 5 seed Coe College 3-1 Thursday afternoon. The Dutch swept Luther in the regular season 3-0 by a combined score 20-5.