Freshmen pitchers guide Dutch baseball squad to victory

Central College

AUBURNDALE, FLA.— Freshmen hurlers Charlie Palmer (Chariton) and Frankie Mauro (Des Moines, Dowling Catholic HS) combined to baffle Cornell hitters in a 7-2 victory for the Central College baseball team Thursday.

Getting the ball to start his first collegiate game, Palmer threw five shut-out innings and recorded four strikeouts for the Dutch (2-3). He was replaced by Mauro, who struck out three and walked just one over the final four innings.

“You never know how a freshman is going to do the first time out, but both of them really answered the bell,” coach Matt Schirm said. “They’ve been really solid through the fall and preseason. It was pretty impressive to see them shut down Cornell for the most part.”

A surging Central offense pounded out 12 hits, including three doubles. The team’s top hitter was catcher Michael Reuter (junior, Monticello), who went 3-for-5 with an RBI.

“We had a pretty good game offensively,” Schirm said. “Even when we got out, we had a lot of tough at-bats and only struck out four times.”

Hitting out of the No. 7 spot, third baseman Zach Brown (junior, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Xavier HS) went 2-for-3 with an RBI single in the sixth inning.

“He came up with RBI after Cornell cut our lead to one run,” Schirm said. “It was a big hit because it gave us some more cushion. He’s had several big hits already on this trip.

Central will face a stiff test tomorrow against Concordia-Chicago (Ill.). The Cougars have made it the NCAA tournament four years in a row and are off to a 6-2 start this year.

“They’re a very good program,” Schirm said. “It’s going to be a tough match up. I wanted to play a couple of opponents like that down here because I think it will help us prepare for the conference season.”

First pitch is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. (CDT) in Auburndale.