PELLA — Ending the game on the wrong side of a pitcher's duel, the Central College baseball team dropped the first game of the weekend series against Buena Vista University 3-1 on Friday.
Despite outhitting their opponents 7-5, the Dutch (15-5, 5-4 American Rivers Conference) fell to the Beavers (11-11, 4-3 conference).
"We outhit them, we just don't come up with the big hit when we needed to do and they did," coach Matt Schirm said. "We had a lot of good at-bats so I think the offensive effort was better than what it looked like.
A stellar outing by starting pitcher Nick Long (junior, Marshalltown, East Marshall HS) included seven strikeouts and just two runs allowed on three hits. Long fell to 2-3 on the season.
"Nick did everything we needed him to do for us to win," Schirm said. "The tough thing for him is he faces the other team's top pitcher every time so it's typically going to be a low-scoring game."
Three of Central's seven hits came off the bat of shortstop Garrett Saunders (senior, Bonaparte, Van Buren HS). He scored Central's only run in the eighth after reaching on a triple and Tanner Wood's (senior, right fielder, Pella) RBI groundout.
"It was good to see him get back on track," Schirm said.
Third baseman Kaiden Fiebelkorn (junior, Brooklyn, BGM HS) also had a triple.
The most promising inning for Central was in the sixth when it loaded the bases with no outs. Patrick Diemer (sophomore, designated hitter, Waukee) flew out to right field and Ryan Bouwman (senior, first baseman, Bloomington, Ill., Normal HS) was thrown out at home for a double play.
The Dutch and Beavers will play a doubleheader at 1 p.m. on Central's home field at the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex. A video webcast and live stats of Saturday's action can be accessed through the Central athletics website at athletics.central.edu
"It's very hard to sweep a series in our conference," Schirm said. "The key is to win as many series as you can. If you can get some sweeps out of that, it's icing on the cake. I'm proud of how we competed today, I know they'll come back tomorrow and compete hard."
