Late-inning collapse results in loss for Central baseball team

Central College

TUCSON, ARIZ. — Despite leading for the first six innings of the game, the Central College baseball team couldn’t hold its lead, falling to Marian (Wis.) 12-8 on Tuesday.

The Dutch (3-3) were swinging hot bats early on against the Sabres (1-5) pitching staff. Central connected on 10 hits, including five doubles through the first six innings. Zach Brown led the Dutch at the plate, going 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and an RBI.

On the mound, Matt Schissel (junior, Milan, Ill., Rock Island Alleman HS) held the Sabers in check early, scattering nine hits over six innings and allowing just two runs.

“Matt Schissel did a really good job today,” coach Matt Schirm said. “We just couldn’t hold them in the last few innings. I’m disappointed that we couldn’t get him the win.”

Schissel was replaced in the top of the seventh after allowed a leadoff walk followed by an RBI triple. Marian scored four in the seventh and five in the eighth off Central relief pitchers Alex Dornacker (freshman, West Des Moines, Valley HS) and Mark Schroeder (junior, Chariton), taking an 11-6 lead. After notching just eight hits through the first six innings, the Sabres exploded for eight hits in the last three.

Central mounted a rally in the bottom of the ninth, scoring two runs off doubles by Spencer Gritsch (junior, Brooklyn, Iowa, BGM HS) and Michael Reuter (sophomore, Monticello), but came up short.

“We played better today than we did yesterday,” Schirm said. “We didn’t have as many miscues but it still obviously wasn’t good enough to get a win.”

After taking a day off tomorrow, Central will return to the field Thursday to face Hamline (Minn.) at noon CST.