Dutch dealt doubleheader baseball sweep
PELLA — It was a frustrating Senior Day for the Central College baseball team as it dropped a pair against the University of Dubuque 20-6 and 13-2 Saturday afternoon.
Central slips to 11-15 (2-14 American Rivers Conference) on the season and Dubuque improves to 17-11 (9-7 conference).
“It’s frustrating to take a couple of steps forward and then take a step back like today,” coach Casey Klunder said. “We’re going to have to go back to the tape to see exactly what went wrong and what we can do better. I like this team. I think we’ll continue to work and improve but it is certainly frustrating.”
Offensively, right fielder Colton DeRocher (sophomore, Sioux City, East HS) had another monster game in the opener. He was 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI. He’s up to 40 RBI on the season, only the 11th player Central to reach that mark.
“He’s been unbelievable this year,” Klunder said. “He flashed something a little different today by hitting balls down the line and using the whole field.”
Catcher Brenden Mudd (junior, Greenwood Village, Colo., Cheery Creek HS) had a breakout first game, driving in three runs on a 2-for-3 performance at the plate.
“He doesn’t get his number called as much because we’re splitting catching duties, but when he got in there today he made the most of his opportunity,” Klunder said.
Solo home runs by second baseman Lucas Farren (fifth year, Yorkville, Ill.) and catcher Dom DeLaPaz (freshman, Davenport, West HS) provided the only runs for the Dutch in game two.
Landon Vander Leest (senior, Pella) took the loss as the starting pitcher in game one, allowing six runs in 2.1 innings. He walked six and yielded three hits. Vander Leest and four relief pitchers combined for 13 walks and five hit by pitches.
Caleb Evans (junior, Davenport, Central HS) was the losing pitcher in game two after giving up eight runs. Only three of the runs charged to Evans were earned after three Dutch errors in the first three innings. The Spartans piled up 15 hits against the three Dutch pitchers in game two.
“We just have to continue to improve on the mound,” Klunder said. “It’s tough to give up that many runs early. We had some defensive breakdowns and we didn’t execute pitches very well. When you do that against good teams, you don’t get the opportunity to win.”
Central travels to Indianola for a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader with Simpson College Tuesday. Central won the first game of the series on Tuesday 5-4 on a walk-off single.
“We’re going to get this thing right,” Klunder said. “We have all of the confidence in that. We have some good things going on and we have some good players in the program. It may not happen as fast as we’d like, but we’re going to get it right.”
