Sophomore Dirk Lindaman fired a two-hit shutout as the Central College baseball team managed a split of a doubleheader with Augsburg (Minn.) Sunday, dropping the opener in nine innings, 5-3, before posting a 3-0 shutout.
Lindaman went the distance in the nightcap for Central (2-1), throwing seven scoreless frames in his season debut. Caleb Rangel had an RBI single while Josh Stanton and Sam Stetzel had two hits and scored two runs.
That capped a five-hit day for Stetzel, who was 3-of-4 in the opener. He drove in a run in a two-run second for the Dutch, but then they were held scoreless until the ninth. Augsburg outfielder Tim Gerding belted a 3-run homer in the ninth for the extra-inning victory. Central had a chance for the win in the eighth but a bases-loaded double play ended the threat. Rangel suffered the loss in relief of starter Ryan Goetzinger, who yielded two runs in 3.2 innings.
Augsburg (2-1) played three games Sunday, defeating Loras in extra innings earlier in the day.
"Augsburg's a very good team," coach Adam Stevens said.
"The thing I liked is we really competed today. We had a lot of chances to win in the first game and the second game was our best of the weekend. We played great defense, got some big hits on offense and we looked a lot better on the mound. This gives us something to build on."
The Dutch are off until they open an eight-game spring-break trip to Mesa, Ariz. They meet Rockford College (Ill.) next Sunday at 1 p.m. (Iowa time).