MOUNT VERNON — Powering to 12 runs on 12 hits, the Central College baseball team cruised past Cornell College 12-2 Monday night.
The Dutch (7-10) were bolstered by a seven-run fourth inning. Catcher Dom DeLaPaz's (fifth year, Davenport, West HS) grand slam capped off the inning that included RBI hits by right fielder Jaden Kramer (senior, Cedar Falls), Brayden Sawyer (senior, Grundy Center) and second baseman Bryer Wiley (sophomore, Urbana, Center Point-Urbana HS)
Sawyer and Brad Bomkamp (sophomore, Pleasant Prairie, Wis., Indian Trail HS) both had three hits in the game. Sawyer drove in a pair of runs.
It wasn't just the plate where Sawyer was key to the win, he also made his first start of the season on the mound. He went 6.1 innings, allowing one unearned run. He struck out four, walked two and allowed four hits.
Relievers Hayden Hoffman (senior, Indianola), Nathan Carey (freshman, Pella) and Bo Gerbracht (junior, Wellsburg, AGWSR HS) kept the Rams at bay to close out the win. Hoffman struck out both batters he faced in the seventh. Carey threw a scoreless eighth and Gerbracht saw one unearned run cross the plate.
Central returns to American Rivers Conference play Friday night against Wartburg College in Waverly at 6 p.m.
