Big innings foil Dutch in conference baseball openers
Central College
DUBUQUE—The Central College baseball team rallied in both games of its Iowa Conference doubleheader against the University of Dubuque, but was foiled by multi-run innings and dropped the seven-inning contest 6-4 and the nine-inning finale 8-7.
Senior shortstop Jordan Judkins (Marshalltown) was 5-for-8 with two doubles on the day with three runs batted in and one run scored. But his efforts were not enough for the Dutch (8-5 overall, 0-2 conference), as the Spartans (6-7 overall, 2-0 conference) rallied to take the second game after holding on for the first game.
“When you give up four runs in an inning, your chances of winning decrease drastically,” coach Adam Stevens said. “We’ve done a good job limiting teams to smaller innings, but today we didn’t do that. Dubuque played well and we were playing from behind the entire day.”
In the conference opener, the Spartans jumped out to a 5-0 lead with one run in the first inning and two in both the second and third innings. The Dutch responded with three in the fourth and one in the sixth, but were unable to even the score and could not overcome three defensive errors that led to three unearned runs for Dubuque.
“We made a couple defensive mistakes, which was uncharacteristic, and Dubuque took advantage of them,” said Stevens.
J. Judkins finished 3-for-4 with one RBI, but no other Central player was able to put together a multi-hit game. Sophomore pitcher Dakotah Wolken (Dillon, East Marshall HS) allowed six runs (three earned) on 10 hits and one walk while striking out one batter in the complete-game effort. It’s Wolken’s first loss of the season (3-1).
Dubuque’s Eastman allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out four in 6.0 innings before Naval shut the door in the seventh. Four Spartans had two hits apiece.
In the doubleheader finale, the Spartans once again jumped out to a 5-0 lead with four runs in the second and one in the third. But this time the Dutch rallied to tie the game with a five-run fourth inning, aided by senior outfielder Jake Effron’s (Glendale, Ariz., North Pointe Prep HS) two-RBI double.
Central jumped ahead with a two-run sixth on a J. Judkins’ RBI-double. He scored on senior second baseman Adam Ariola’s (Bloomington, Ill., Normal HS) sacrifice fly.
But a two-RBI double by Dubuque’s McWhite and an RBI single by Ryan moments later made for a three-run seventh and put the Spartans on top for good.
“We came back and took the lead, but we couldn’t hold Dubuque down,” Stevens said. “Dubuque’s relief pitcher did a nice job and they played good defense all day.
“They played better than we did.”
J. Judkins, Ariola and Effron finished with two hits apiece. J. Judkins and Effron had two RBIs each as well.
Senior pitcher Ryan Dusil (Cedar Rapids, Kennedy HS) allowed five runs on eight hits with no walks and no strikeouts over 6.0 innings. Sophomore pitcher Mark Schroeder (Chariton) was tagged with the loss after allowing three runs on five hits with no walks and two strikeouts in 2.0 relief innings.
Five Dubuque players had at least two hits, while three Spartans had two RBIs each. Trifiletti picked up the win in 5.2 innings of relief.
“We had good at-bats today and we did some good things offensively,” said Stevens. “We hit into some hard outs and sometimes that happens. It was one of those days where they came through at the right times and we didn’t.
“The good news about it is that we get to play again tomorrow.”
The two teams break for the night and reconvene tomorrow afternoon for another doubleheader. First pitch has been moved up to noon.
