Storm fall in slugfest with Central

PELLA, Iowa – The Simpson College baseball team ended up on the wrong side of a slugfest with Central in Saturday's American Rivers Conference action, falling 12-9. 

Ryan Willis and Brady Held belted home runs to pull Simpson within two, 7-5, midway through the contest, but the Dutch (8-9, 2-4 A-R-C) responded with five unanswered fueled by their second three-run bomb of the game in the sixth inning. The Storm (11-8, 1-2 A-R-C) got a two-run single from Held in the seventh and pushed two runs across in the ninth, but fell shy of a comeback.

Ty Cowley and Bennett Wadstrom were both 2-for-3 in the game and had two big doubles which led to Simpson's first runs of the day in the top of the third. Held had a team-high three hits and tallied his second career game with four RBIs, and Ian Baldwin and Matthew Marquez accounted for the Storm's final RBIs in the ninth.

The Storm tied their season-high of five extra-base hits, but the Dutch tallied six of their own thanks to three home runs, two triples and a double. Colton DeRocher led Central with four RBIs, while winning pitcher Chance Dreyer added three to go with his nine strikeouts on the mound.

Easton Dunwoody suffered the loss for the Storm, surrendering seven runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks in 2.1 innings.

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The two teams will close the series with a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m.