PELLA, Iowa – Baseball took two out of three games of its road series against Central College after defeating the Dutch 4-0 and falling 15-10 on Monday, Apr. 29. The Knights are now 20-14 overall and 10-10 in American Rivers Conference play.
Game Summary
- Game One (Resumed from 4/27)
- Second Inning
- Keaton Gray had the only hit between both teams in the first two innings
- Third Inning
- The Knights were first on the scoreboard after back-to-back RBI singles from Eliot Jurgensen and Zach Walton
- Wartburg led 2-0 through three innings
- Sixth Inning
- Joey Ciero allowed two hits and zero runs on the mound for Wartburg headed to the seventh inning
- Seventh Inning
- Cole Wessling and Armstrong both singled and then were brought home by a Jurgensen single that pushed the lead to 4-0
- Eighth Inning
- In the top half the Knights had a runner in scoring position after a double from Noah Day but was left stranded
- Ninth Inning
- Max Hansen came in to pitch the final three innings and closed out Central for a 4-0 win
- Game Two
- First Inning
- The Knights got on the board first as Sam Nicolino drove in Keaton Gray on an RBI single to take an early one run lead
- Second Inning
- Will Armstrong came around to score after a single on an RBI double from Gray to extend the Wartburg lead to two
- The Dutch scored four runs in the bottom half on five hits to take a 4-2 lead after two
- Third Inning
- Central added one more run on a sacrifice fly to extend their lead to three over the Knights
- Fourth Inning
- The Dutch scored 10 runs on six hits in the bottom of the fourth to push their lead to 13 after four innings
- Fifth Inning
- Nicolino added another RBI to his total as Zach Walton and Gray scored on a single down the left field line to make it 15-4 Central
- Noah Day brought Nicolino around to score on a double to right center as the Knights cut the Dutch lead to 10
- Seventh Inning
- Day reached on an error that brought in Nicolino in to score to cut the lead to nine
- Caleb Andrews and Gray come up with back-to-back RBI singles and make the score 15-8 after seven innings
- Ninth Inning
Top Performers
- Game One
- Eliot Jurgensen
- 2/3 at the plate
- Three RBI
- Double
- Two walks drawn
- Joey Ciero
- Win (3-0)
- 6.0 innings pitched
- Two hits allowed
- Two strikeouts
- Keaton Gray
- 2/4 at the plate
- One run scored
- Stolen base
- Game Two
Coaches Comments
Head Coach
Casey Klunder began his postgame thoughts talking about how impressive the senior leadership has been this season, "Over the season this has really become a senior-led team and its been awesome to see guys step into those leadership roles."
One of those seniors,
Keaton Gray, was great at the plate over the three games in Pella. "Keaton has been such a weapon for us at the top of the lineup this season and is a great leader," said Klunder.
Klunder gave his thoughts on the pitching staff over the three games, "Going back to game one,
Cael Boehmer was extremely sharp after getting some extended rest which was great to see,". "In game two
Joey Ciero was cruising before the lighting delay, but
Max Hansen got the final nine outs for us which was huge," said Klunder. He finished with game three, "The big thing in game three is not giving up the big inning and being able to get that third out."
"I'm proud of how we responded all weekend whether it be a jam on the mound, a delay or a 10 run inning," said Klunder. In game three the Knights answered a 15-2 deficit by scoring the next eight runs.
Klunder spoke about tomorrow's non-conference game against UW-Platteville coming at a good time, "We scheduled this game with hopes to get some of our pitchers one more outting before hopefully making a trip to the A-R-C Tournament."
Notes/Streaks
- Joey Ciero moves to 3-0 in decisions this season
- Eliot Jurgensen has recorded an RBI in four straight games
- Eight RBI in that stretch
- Keaton Gray finished the series 10/15 (Team high) at the plate
- Now has 58 hits this season
- Gray also extends his hitting streak to 12 games
- Second 10+ game hitting streak this season
- Back-to-back A-R-C series wins for Wartburg
- Have won four of last six A-R-C games played
Next Time Out
The Knights will be back in action Tuesday, Apr. 30 at home against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville beginning at 2 p.m.
