After an early lead slipped away from the Central Baseball team, they battled back to win in dramatic 5-4 fashion against American Rivers Conference and Warren County rival Simpson College.

Central’s Declan O’Hare got the scoring started in the game, driving in Lucas Farren with an RBI-double in the bottom of the first inning. After four straight scoreless frames between Simpson pitcher Brady Held and Central’s Marcus Wenzel, the Storm would take advantage of a couple Dutch errors to plate three in the sixth inning. Held then helped his own cause in the top of the seventh, singling in Kaleb Bauer to pull ahead 4-1. In the bottom of the seventh, the Dutch responded as Tanner Bigelow hit a two-RBI single that plated Dom DeLaPaz and Ian Boline. A scoreless eighth inning and top of the ninth, set up a walk-off situation for the Dutch. DeLaPaz got the rally started with a one-out double, followed by a Boline single and Logan McCoy walk. Tanner Bigelow stepped back up to the plate in the big moment and lined a single into left field that scored pinch runners Carson Albrecht and Kyler Watson to pull out the dramatic win.

Central starting pitcher Marcus Wenzel went the distance to grab the win, throwing 124 pitches and giving up just one earned run on seven hits, three walks, and three strikeouts. Dutch Head Coach Casey Klunder praised the effort of his fifth-year senior pitcher.

“What a tremendous young man, first and foremost, but then on top of that an excellent baseball player. It was fun to watch him work today. He had his good stuff and even in the inning that got away from us there in the middle, he buckled right back down and went right back to work, and our defense picked him up and it was just an outstanding effort from start to finish for Marcus.”

Brady Held was equally as impressive in his seven innings of work. He gave up just three earned runs on eight hits, while fanning nine Dutch hitters. Zach Hollingworth suffered the loss after giving up three hits and two runs in the ninth.

Central improved to 11-12 overall on the season and 2-11 in conference action, while Simpson dropped to 11-13 overall and 2-8 in league play. The Dutch return to action on Friday for a three-game series with the University of Dubuque, while the Storm host Coe College in a three-game series also starting Friday.