Impressive start to conference season for Central baseball team
Central College
WAVERLY — The Central College baseball team split its Iowa Conference opening doubleheader Friday, taking game one 3-2 against league-leading Wartburg before dropping game two 5-3.
The teams were tied headed into the seventh and final inning of game one. Central was able to load the bases before Michael Reuter’s (sophomore, Monticello) sacrifice fly to right field scored Kirby Coppess (senior, Urbandale) giving the Dutch (5-7) a 3-2 lead it would not relinquish.
Andy Carr went the distance in game one, limiting the Knights (15-2) to just two runs on four hits over seven innings to pick up his third win of the season.
“Andy pitched really well, like he has all year,” coach Matt Schirm said. “He shut down a pretty good offense.
The game one victory snapped Wartburg’s 14-game winning streak.
Central got another solid pitching performance from Dakotah Wolken (junior, Dillon, Iowa, East Marshall HS) in game two’s loss. Wolken allowed only five runs on four hits in his seven innings of work, striking out a career-high twelve batters. Wolken’s effort was hampered by three defensive errors.
“Dakotah pitched really well again,” Schirm said. “Overall, our pitching was very good today, which was good to see.”
Zach Brown (sophomore, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Xavier HS), Spencer Gritsch (junior, Brooklyn, Iowa, BGM HS), and Adam Lindell (junior, Denver, Colo., Arapahoe HS) each contributed three hits on the day. Brown had two RBI’s and Lindell chipped in one.
“It was huge to get a win today,” Schirm said. “We’ve been scuffling and haven’t been playing well for a couple of weeks. To come out and pitch well today and play relatively solid baseball was good. Getting a win against a good opponent should help our confidence going forward.”
The Dutch and the Knights will play another doubleheader tomorrow in Waverly, starting at 1 p.m.
College baseball
at Waverly
Game 1
Central 100 010 1—3 10 1
Wartburg 010 001 0—2 4 3
Carr and Reuter; Bolt, Gilson, Wilson. W—Carr (3-0); L—Bolt (0-2). Central 5-6, Concordia 14-2
Game 2
Central 300 000 000—3 4 3
Wartburg 020 010 200—5 4 0
Wolken, Schroeder and Reuter; Knouse, Gilson, Nadermann. W—Knouse (4-0); L—Wolken (0-2). Central 5-7, Wartburg 15-2
