Simpson outscores Central in baseball series opener
PELLA – The Central College baseball team never found its groove in a 15-2 loss to Simpson College Friday afternoon.
The Storm (14-19, 8-11 American Rivers Conference) scored in six of the seven innings, while the Dutch (15-18, 6-13 A-R-C) scratched one apiece in the first two innings.
Jackson Torbit (St. Louis, Mo., Webster Groves HS) suffered the loss on the mound, yielding four earned runs while logging just 2.0 innings. He walked three and had seven hits against.
“It was an uncharacteristic start by Jackson,” coach Adam Carey said. “You expect an outing like that at some pint when you use as a freshman as much as we’ve used him this year. He just didn’t have his stuff today.”
Bryer Wiley (freshman, Urbana, Center Point-Urbana HS) tossed 4.0 innings in relief, allowing six earned runs. Xander Poock (sophomore, Johnston) got the last three outs, yielding two earned runs.
“We’ve got to better job of limiting those runs and getting ahead in counts,” Carey said. “If we can do that, we’ll be in a much better position the rest of the weekend.”
Offensively, third baseman Brayden Sawyer (junior Grundy Center) and shortstop Garrett Guenther (junior, Grayslake, Ill., Central HS) each had one hit and one RBI.
“We generally fought hard in the box,” Carey said. “The ball just didn’t bounce our direction early in the game.”
The Dutch and the Storm will play a doubleheader in Pella Saturday, starting at 1 p.m.
