PELLA— The Central College baseball season is officially underway and catcher
Dom DeLaPaz (fifth year, Davenport, West HS) is right back to doing what he does best—crushing baseballs. The team made a trip down to Texas this past weekend to play a three-game series against Hardin-Simmons University, where DeLaPaz's electric performance was enough to earn him American Rivers Conference Position Player of the Week.
It didn't take long for DeLaPaz to get going, as he started the series off with a monstrous game one. In this game, the Dutch recorded a 10-9 win and DeLaPaz went 4-5 with two homeruns, two doubles, five RBIs, and three scored runs. The jaw-dropping stat line becomes even more impressive when accounting for the fact that one of his four hits included the game-winning two-RBI double in the top of the ninth inning. Following this, over the course of the series' final two games, DeLaPaz recorded two more hits, another RBI, and a walk.
On the weekend overall, DeLaPaz went 6-12 (.500 average) with two doubles, two homeruns, and 6 RBIs. DeLaPaz also caught two of the three games for Central. While he put on a dominant performance individually, DeLaPaz was quick to credit his teammates for his weekend success.
"I had a relaxed mindset going into the weekend because of the change of scenery with the guys I cherish these moments the most with" DeLaPaz stated when asked about what his mindset was going into the weekend. "Being with my brothers allowed me to have a blast while playing. Feeling their confidence in me makes me feel like I'm on the attack in the box," he continued.
He then commented on what his approach in the box was, stating, "seeing it and hitting it the first pitch of the at bat usually helps rather than being down with two strikes... Taking advantage of balls over the plate and putting good swings on them allowed me to be successful this weekend," DeLaPaz concluded.
Central gets the week off before heading to Sauget, Illinois where they'll play three games over the course of next Saturday and Sunday.
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