Bad innings spell doom for Central baseball team

Central Dutch Athletics

DECORAH — The Luther College baseball team scored multiple runs in four different innings to defeat Central College 12-5 in the final game of the weekend series on Sunday.

The Norse (17-11, 10-2 American Rivers Conference) had a five-run sixth inning and a three-run seventh inning to provide the margin of victory over the Dutch (16-10, 6-9 conference).

“It’s been the story of the weekend, we gave up too many big innings,” coach Matt Schirm said. “Luther is a really good team and capitalized on our mistakes well all throughout the weekend.”

Starting pitcher Tanner Wood (senior, Pella) registered his first loss of the season (2-1), allowing six runs over 5.0 innings. Five Central relievers got the final 12 outs, but allowed six more runs in the process.

“Tanner pitched really well through five,” Schirm said.. He got in some trouble in the sixth and that’s when we replaced him. Our bullpen battled but give Luther credit, they took advantage of the mistakes we made.”

First basemen Ryan Bouwman (senior, Bloomington, Ill., Normal HS) drove in three of Central’s five runs with singles in the fifth and seventh innings.

As a team, Central had 10 hits, including a pair of doubles from second basemen Chris Riddle (senior, Omaha, Neb., Mount Michael HS).

“We hit the ball okay today and definitely had better at-bats overall than yesterday.” Schirm said. “Ryan has been one of our most consistent hitters.”

From the No. 9 spot, right fielder Lucas Farren (sophomore, Yorkville, Ill.) went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.

“Lucas has been a spark for us recently,” Schirm said. “Even if he doesn’t hit the ball hard, he does a good job drawing walks and is aggressive on the bases.”

Coming home to their own friendly confines, the Dutch will host Simpson College on Tuesday for a single game at 3 p.m. A video webcast and live stats of the action can be accessed through the Central athletics website at athletics.central.edu