The Holdrege Dusters are taking a road trip to challenge the Central City/Centura Kernels at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Having struggled with three defeats in a row, Holdrege turned things around against Fairbury on Thursday. They blew past the Jeffs 7-1.
Lyndon Rodewald spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered a run (which was unearned) on four hits and racked up eight Ks. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Chance Bailey, who scored a run while going 2-for-3. Kegan Steinke also deserves some recognition as he snagged his first stolen base of the season.
Meanwhile, Central City/Centura hadn't done well against Hastings recently (they were 1-6 in their previous seven matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. The Kernels were the clear victors by a 10-2 margin over the Tigers. That's two games straight that the Kernels have won by exactly eight runs.
Jakob Ruhl made a big impact no matter where he played. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over six innings pitched. Ruhl was also big at the plate, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs and one triple.
In other batting news, Mason Gorecki was excellent, scoring two runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. Another player making a difference was Hayden Murphy, who scored a run and stole two bases while going 1-for-3.
Central City/Centura hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Hastings struck out six times.
Central City/Centura has started the season off flawlessly and has a 2-0 record to show for it. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered a grand total of 2 run this season. As for Holdrege, their record is now 2-3.
