Central baseball team secures first sweep of season
PELLA – The Central College baseball team swept Hamline University 10-3 and 9-7 Saturday afternoon behind strong starting pitching and an opportunistic offensive effort.
The starting pitchers for the Dutch lasted through 13 of a possible 18 innings on the day while the Dutch offense scored 19 runs on just 18 hits.
Declan O’Hare (fifth year, Los Angeles, Calif., John Marshall HS) struck out seven as the winning pitcher in the opener. He scattered seven hits and two walks over 6.0 innings and neither of the runs he allowed were earned. Bryce Haessig (sophomore, Huxley, Ballard HS) earned the three-inning save with two hits and one walk allowed.
“That’s a good offense that Declan found a way to dial down as much as possible,” coach Adam Carey said. “We tried to pull him in the fifth inning but he said he didn’t want to come out so we gave him another inning. He gave us a seven-pitch inning in his final frame.”
Mark Kenney (sophomore, Fennimore, Wis.) tossed a career-long 7.0 innings in the nightcap, striking out five while scattering eight hits and three walks to allow just three earned runs.
Central capitalized on Hamline miscues in the opener, using four Piper errors, nine walks, a passed ball and a wild pitch to pile on 10 runs. Only four of the 10 Dutch runs were charged as earned.
Second baseman Logan McCoy (senior, Galva, Alta-Aurelia HS) led the offense in game one with a 3-for-4 performance that included a double. Dom DeLaPaz (junior, catcher, Davenport, West HS) also added a pair of hits.
O’Hare’s bat stole the show in game two when his fourth inning grand slam erased a 3-1 deficit to put Central in front 5-3.
“It was a huge spark for everyone in our dugout,” Carey said. “He’s done a really good job of staying true to who he is and it was really good to see that ball go over the fence.”
O’Hare, Third baseman Brayden Sawyer (sophomore, Grundy Center) and center fielder Max Steinlage (sophomore, Cedar Falls) each had two hits and two runs scored in the nightcap.
The Dutch and the Pipers wrap up their three-game set in Pella with a 1 p.m. match at Sunday.
“We’re excited to start conference play next week,” Carey said. “The resiliency we showed today is the team that I expect us to be for the rest of the season. When something happens, we’re going to find a way to bounce back.”
