An up-and-down night saw the Central College baseball team fall just short in an 8-7 loss to Buena Vista University Thursday night in the Iowa Conference Baseball Tournament.

It looked as though the Dutch might be buried early, as Buena Vista hung five runs on Central in the top of the second inning, but Central kept its composure, earning back three of those runs in the bottom of the frame.The Beavers added another run in the fourth inning, but with their backs against the wall and trailing 6-3, Central came through with a huge four-run inning to take their first lead of the ballgame at 7-6.

“They [Buena Vista] put up a five-spot right away in the second inning, which I don’t think we’ve allowed all year, so I was really happy for our guys to come back and put three [runs] right on the board again. That says a lot about our guys,” said Stevens. “Then we ended up scoring four in the fourth and took the lead, but there were a few things here-and-there late in the game that were the difference – and that’s the way it is in a one-run game.”

Unfortunately for the Dutch, that lead wouldn’t hold, as some key defensive miscues down the stretch allowed Buena Vista to tie the game in the seventh inning – then take the lead in the eighth frame – and hold on for the one-run victory.

Both teams recorded 12 hits in the game, but it was Central’s uncharacteristic 3 errors that may have made the difference. The loss puts the Dutch on the verge of elimination, as they’ll try to stay alive later this afternoon when they face the winner of this morning’s Luther/Simpson contest.

You can hear the live play-by-play from the Iowa Conference Baseball Tournament in Cedar Rapids with Eric Gotschall providing the play-by-play on kniakrls.com.

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