Anthony Miller April 11, 2009

Central offense quieted by Dubuque

PELLA—The Central College baseball team managed to score only one run over the last 11 innings of Saturday’s doubleheader with Iowa Conference rival the Univ. of Dubuque as the Dutch were swept 12-8 and 8-1.  

Trailing 2-1 in the third inning of game one Central put up eight runs with two outs to storm out to an 8-2 lead. Sophomore left fielder Caleb Rangel (Rock Island, Ill., Alleman HS) drew a walk and was followed by a single from Derek Knutson (senior, Richland, Wash., Yorkville HS), a double from Jarred Lackey (sophomore, Somerton, Ariz., Cibola HS) that drove in two runs and a one-run single by Anthony Miller (sophomore, Davenport, Assumption HS). Freshman catcher Josh Stanton (Homer Glen, Ill., Lockport Township HS) recorded the only other hit of the inning, a single to left field to drive in Miller, but the Dutch drew three more walks and were hit by pitches twice in the inning.

The 8-2 lead didn’t hold up for long though as Dubuque (8-17, 2-7 conference) chipped away with two more runs in both the fourth and fifth innings off of Central starter Corey Eisenmann (freshman, Bloomingdale, Ill., Driscoll Catholic HS) to close the gap to 8-6. Eisenmann lasted 4.1 innings, giving up six runs on seven hits and was relieved by senior Adam Squires (Center Point, Center Point Urbana HS).

Squires started the seventh inning but with two runs in and a runner on second was replaced by junior Doug Eisenman (Grundy Center) (2-1). Before the Dutch could record three outs in the inning Dubuque scored six runs and had taken a 12-8.

Central managed only one hit over the last four innings of the game and committed a pair of costly errors in the seventh inning.

“We just got outplayed today in every way,” said Central coach Adam Stevens. “We couldn’t make defensive plays when we needed to, pitchers were behind in the count all day, and Dubuque took advantage of that. We’ve got to give them credit because they did some things really well today.”

The Dutch couldn’t manage much offense in game two despite recording eight hits off of Dubuque starter Mark Hennessy who pitched a complete game.

Central’s lone run came with two outs in the third inning. Center fielder Ben Tressel (junior, Dubuque, Hempstead HS) singled and advanced to second on an error by the left fielder before being singled in by freshman second baseman Mike Furlong (Davenport, Assumption HS).

Freshman Joel Pulliam (Des Moines, East HS) started for the Dutch in game two, pitching 4.2 innings and giving up five runs on six hits. He was followed by junior Josh Nalan (Sheffield, SCMT HS) who gave up two runs on two hits and struck out three in 1.1 innings and sophomore Shane Nelson (Iowa City, City HS) who gave up one run on two hits in 1.0 innings.

“We’ve just got to keep working hard,” Stevens said. “I thought we competed pretty well but we just didn’t execute today. If we want to reach the goals that we set for ourselves we need to have a great week coming up here.”

Central (11-14, 6-6 conference) hosts Luther College (14-7, 6-3 conference) at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Luther defeated Central 5-3 and 3-1 in Decorah on March 31.