April 19, 2005
Release courtesy of Larry Happel, Central College sports information director

PELLA, IOWA . . . Central College shortstop Steve Gebhart, a senior from Des Moines, has been named the Louisville Slugger national Division III player of the week by Collegiate Baseball.

The publication cited Gebhart for belting five home runs and hitting .600 with 12 RBI in four Central road wins last week. Gebhart, a Saydel High School graduate, had four homers in a doubleheader sweep at Coe College Wednesday, including a school record-tying three in the second game, a 16-5 win. He had seven hits and nine RBI on the day, including a 5-for-5 effort in the nightcap, which also set a school mark.

Sunday Gebhart had two hits in a sweep at Simpson College, including a three-run homer in Central’s 4-3 win in the opener. He was 9-for-15 for the week, compiling a 1.667 slugging percentage and a .647 on-base percentage. Meanwhile he played errorless ball at shortstop with 13 assists and three putouts in the four games.

Earlier Gebhart was tabbed as the Iowa Conference player of the week.

Gebhart is batting a team-high .446 for the year and has climbed into third on Central’s career hits list with 141. After hitting only two home runs in Central’s first 21 games Gebhart now has seven, matching the eighth-highest season total in school history.

After a 0-6 start in Iowa Conference play, Gebhart has helped the Dutch climb into fifth place in the league standings at 4-6, rekindling the team’s league tournament hopes. The top six teams in the conference standings advance to the tourney, played May 12-15 in Cedar Rapids. Second-year coach Adam Stevens’ club has three conference doubleheaders remaining, starting with a twinbill against Cornell College Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Kuyper Athletics Complex in Pella.

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