Dutch baseball team wins series at Dubuque

Central takes two of three on the road

by Joseph Flaherty

Dubuque, IA (03/24/2025) — A 6-5 victory in the opening game of the Central College baseball team's Saturday doubleheader against the University of Dubuque was enough to take the season series.

Dubuque beat Central 9-1 in the third and final game of the series. Central won the first game on Friday by a 6-1 margin. The Dutch (10-5, 2-1 American Rivers Conference) won a series at Dubuque for the first time since taking two out of three games there in 2012.

"Dubuque is a really tough place to win," coach Adam Carey said. "We knew it was going to be a battle going into the weekend and we responded well to the challenge. Now our job is to take what we learned and get better throughout the week from the mistakes we made and continue to improve on what we did well this weekend."

After two innings of the first game, the score was tied at 2-2. A walk to center fielder Max Steinlage (junior, Cedar Falls) preceded a home run by designated hitter Dom DeLaPaz (senior, Davenport, West HS).

"That was a phenomenal at-bat by Max and Dom really came through with that home run," Carey said. "Chance Dreyer followed it up with a double and even though he didn't score, watching those three string at-bas together showed us we were in a good spot offensively."

Dubuque took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the fifth but the Dutch answered with three hits and two runs in the top of the sixth. Left fielder Dylan Williams (junior, Woods Cross, Utah) had the go-ahead RBI on a two-out triple.

Bryer Wiley (freshman, Urbana, Center Point-Urbana HS) got the win on the mound with 4.1 scoreless innings of relief. He allowed just two hits and one walk while facing 14 batters. Mark Kenney (junior, Fennimore, Wis.) was the starting pitcher, allowing five earned runs on 10 hits with two walks and three strikeouts'

"Bryer had a relentless approach on the mound," Carey said. "He competed like crazy; it was really fun to watch."

Junior pitcher Max Steinlage (Cedar Falls) took the loss in the second game as five hits and three walks turned into five earned runs and eight total in two innings of work. Central yielded six runs in the third frame and gave Dubuque a lead it never relented.

"We pretty much played the opposite of the way we did in the first game," Carey sad. "We were not getting ahead in the count on the mound and weren't making plays defensively. When you make mistakes against a good program like Dubuque, they're going to take advantage of it. And then our bats just never got going."

Central used six different pitchers in relief to complete the game.

"Our bullpen arms came in filled up the zone and let our defense work," Carey said. "They minimized innings and only allowed one run after that six-run third inning."

Central makes its home debut next Friday with a 3 p.m. game against Coe College.

Dominic

DeLaPaz