Central Defeats Simpson 11-9 In IIAC Tournament

Central (22-19) defeated Simpson (25-15) in the first game of the Iowa Conference Baseball Tournament May 8 in Cedar Rapids.  The Dutch, the No. 6 seed, batted around in the top of the first to take a 3-0 lead.   Jesse Reis (Jr., Coon Rapids, Iowa, Coon Rapids-Bayard H.S.) was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the second.  A Curt Bjork (Jr., Mt. Vernon, Iowa, Mt. Vernon H.S.) infield singled moved up Reis a base.  Both advanced on a Dayton Glasgow wild pitch.  Beau Kaplan (So., Ankeny, Iowa, North Polk H.S.) reached on a Central error which allowed Reis to score.  Jeff Kinkel-Schuster (Fr., Indianola, Iowa, Indianola H.S.) singled to left to plate Bjork to make 3-2.  Joe Pogge (So., Carter Lake, Iowa, Council Bluffs Jefferson H.S.) walked to load the bases.

Jason McClaflin (Sr., Altoona, Iowa, Southeast Polk H.S.) tied the game with a sacrifice fly which scored Kaplan.  Cory Dawson (Jr., Altoona, Iowa, Southeast Polk H.S.) put the Storm up with a single to score Kinkel-Schuster.    A Storm error in the top of the third led to Dutch runners on the corners with no outs.  Jake Jadlowski grounded into a double play, but Derek Knutson scored to tie the game 4-4.

With two outs in the bottom of the third, Johnson singled.   Kaplan doubled to bring up Kinkel-Schuster who reached on an infield single, allowing Johnson to score to give the Storm a 5-4 lead.  Knutson tied the score in the fifth when he tripled in Michael Edwards.   Anthony Bazant’s scored Knutson to give the Dutch the lead once again at 6-5.  Reis opened the bottom of the fifth by reaching on a Central error.  He moved up a base on a  Kristofer Ozga balk.  With one out, Dave Johnson (Fr., West Des Moines, Iowa, Valley H.S.) singled to left.  Kaplan’s sacrifice fly plated Reis to the game at 6-6.  

Jared Lackey began the sixth with an infield single.  With one out Rangel singled to right to move Lackey to third.  Edwards popped out to center for the second out.  Knutson was hit by a Keaton Sansgaard (Sr., Ballard, Iowa, Huxley H.S.) pitch to load the bases.  A Sansgaard pitch got away from Bjork, but the ball bounced direct back to Bjork who tagged Lackey for the final out. 

With two outs, Dutch pitcher Mike Luce walked the bases loaded to bring up Bjork.  Bjork worked the count to 2-0 on Luce who was removed in favor of Ben Gander.  Bjork singled to right to score Dawson and Jones as the Storm retook the lead 8-6.  Bazant reached on a Simpson error to start the top of the seventh.  Jadlowski walked to bring up Blake Smith. Smith’s sacrifice bunt moved both runners up 90 feet.  Justin Owens was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  Lackey doubled down the left field line to tie the game 8-8.  Ben Tressel grounded out to second to score Owens to give Central a 9-8 advantage.

With one out in the eighth, Chris Jones (Jr., Germantown, Wis., Germantown H.S. ) singled to right.  Reis was then hit by a Caleb Rangel pitch.  Bjork struck out looking to bring up Johnson.  The Storm shortstop singled to left to tie the game 9-9.  Kaplan flew out to right to end the inning.  

Smith began the top of the ninth with a single to left.  Owens reached on a Simpson error.  Lackey’s sacrifice moved the runners up.  Tressel reached on a fielder’s choice, but Smith scored on a Storm error to give the Dutch a 10-9 lead.  Central went up 11-9 on a Simpson wild pitch. 

Kinkel-Schuster drew a walk off of Central closer Adam Squires to open the bottom of the ninth.  He moved to second on a Pogge fielder’s choice.  McClaflin flew out to left for the second out.  Dawson flew out to right to end the game.  The Storm, the No. 2 seed fall into the loser's bracket and will play the loser of the Thursday night game between Wartburg, the No. 1 seed and the No. 5 seed, Loras at 1 p.m.

Central          3 0 1 0 2 0 3 0 2       11 12 2
Simpson         0 4 1 0 1 2 0 1 0       9  12 3

C-Glasgow, Ozga (4), Luce (6), Gander (6), Nalan (7), Rangel (7), Squires (9) and Smith
S-Kain, Sansgaard (6), Rankin (9), Sass (9), Akers (9), and Bjork.

W-Rangel (1-0), L-Rankin (0-1), S-Squires (5).

Last Updated: 5/8/08