Wartburg tops Central in opening game of baseball series
WAVERLY- Opening its three-game series against Wartburg College, the Central College baseball team lost 6-1.
The Dutch (10-10, 2-6 American Rivers) scored first when David Distefano (freshman, Janesville, Wis., Craig HS) beat out an infield single and Dylan Williams (junior, Woods Cross Utah) scored from second base. Wartburg would equalize the game in the bottom half of the inning.
“We put some good at bats together early in the game, but at the end of the day we have to execute better with runners in scoring position,” coach Adam Carey said. “We had good at bats periodically throughout the game, but we got to find a way to string the hits together and get some runs on the board.”
In the third inning the Knights hit a solo home run to take a 2-1 lead. The one run lead would hold until the seventh inning when Wartburg (12-8, 6-3 American Rivers) exploded for four runs.
Distefano and Williams both recorded two hits to lead the team. Williams also stole a base.
“They both looked good in the box,” Carey said. “Dylan put up two hits early and he is the reason we scored the run. The RBI hit that David had didn’t leave the infield, we talk about mental and physical energy all the time and Dylan brought both of those to the table with the hustle he showed scoring from second base. Both of them gave great at bats all day and gave us a chance at the bottom of the lineup.”
Jackson Torbit (freshman, St. Louis, Mo., Webster Groves HS) toed the rubber for Central and he pitched 6.1 innings allowing four earned runs on eight hits. He also struck out four hitters. Bryce Haessig (junior, Huxley, Ballard HS) came in relief for 1.2 innings and only allowed a home run while also striking out three hitters.
“Jackson gave us a great start,” said Carey. “Bryce executed his pitch well on the home run, but Keegan Schmitt went down and hit it.”
Chance Dreyer (junior, Davenport), Garrett Guenther (sophomore, Grayslake, Ill., Central HS) and Max Steinlage (junior, Cedar Falls) were the other Central batters to collect hits.
The Dutch will stay in Waverly and finish off the series Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
