Central takes spring break baseball slate to Florida
Central College
PELLA—The Central College baseball team opens its nine-game spring break schedule Friday in the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic at Fort Myers, Fla.
The Dutch (2-1) tolerated icy conditions in their season opener. The squad split with Knox College (Ill.) Saturday, taking a 10-2 victory before stumbling 6-4, and rolled past Robert-Morris Springfield (Ill.) Sunday, 15-4.
“I like how we competed last weekend,” coach Adam Stevens said. “We responded well Sunday after a close loss Saturday. Hopefully we can continue to improve in Florida.”
Central faces Babson College (Mass.) at 4 p.m. Friday and Stevens expects a tough challenge. The Beavers posted a 25-13 mark last season and captured a share of the NEWMAC (New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference) title.
“They’re a good team to open against and we’ve never played them before,” Stevens said.
Also on the schedule are Principia College (Ill.), which compiled a record 20 wins last year, and a rematch against Knox. Two of the nine games are seven-inning doubleheaders.
Stevens said the purpose of the trip is twofold.
“The first half of the trip we want to figure out who we are,” he said. “We saw some of that last weekend but want to build off that in Florida. The second part of the week we’ll move into determining our lineups for conference.”
Central, tied for third in the preseason league coaches’ poll, showed promise last weekend. The Dutch had zero errors in two of the three games while the offense hit .396 with nine doubles and 27 RBIs. The squad stole 10 bases on 10 attempts.
Stevens was most impressed with the pitching staff.
“Our bullpen did a great job in all three games,” Stevens said. “It’s really a point of emphasis this year. We’re still trying to tweak the lineup to figure out the best rotation, but every pitcher will get starts and come out of the bullpen in Florida so hopefully by conference we have more defined roles on the mound.”
Over 50 Division III teams will compete in the tournament.
