Central tops St. John’s 7-3

Central College

CHANDLER, ARIZ.—A triple to left center by senior Ryan Allison (Rock Island, Ill.) drove in two runs in the seventh inning to propel the Dutch to a 7-3 victory over St. John’s Univ. (Minn.) Friday afternoon.

Allison’s punch highlighted a three-run seventh inning that gave Central a 7-1 lead. The Johnnies attempted a comeback in the bottom of the ninth but the Dutch limited St. John’s to two runs to secure the win and improve to 9-3.

Although St. John’s (3-3) outhit Central 12-10, the Johnnies were held scoreless for seven innings by sophomore hurler Dirk Lindaman (Ankeny).

“Lindaman’s a great competitor and that really showed today,” coach Adam Stevens said. “He battled through a tough start to keep us in the ball game and on our way to win.”

Lindaman struck out three and walked none to pick up the win. Freshman Ryan Dusil (Cedar Rapids, Kennedy HS) threw the ninth inning.

Stevens also credited the Central’s offensive production.

“We had a good approach at the plate,” Stevens said. “They had a great pitcher but we executed well in the middle innings to eventually knock them out of the game.”

Caleb Rangel (senior, Rock Island, Ill., Alleman Catholic HS) led the Dutch with three hits. Mike Furlong (junior, Davenport, Assumption HS) and Adam Ariola (freshman, Bloomington, Ill., Normal HS) each had two.

Central now heads back to Iowa to prepare for the start of Iowa Conference play. In their home opener, the Dutch take on Loras College in a three-game series March 25-26.

“We played really good ball consistently against some quality teams throughout spring break,” Stevens said. “We’ve got some things to improve and I’m excited to get back and work on them for the start of the conference season.”

Central College 0 1 0 0 1 2 3 0 0 7 10 1

St. John’s (Minn.) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 12 2

Leading hitters—C: Furlong 2×4, Rangel 3×4, Ariola 2×4; SJ: Skluzacek 2×4, Marsnik 2×5, Cline 2×4. W—Lindaman, L—Kramer.