It’s time for the Ankeny baseball team to regroup.
The top-ranked Hawks dropped to 1-3 on the season with a doubleheader loss to No. 6 Pleasant Valley on a chilly Friday night at Ankeny. The Spartans posted a 4-2 victory in the opener, then completed the sweep with a 6-2 win.
“The temperature was the same for both teams, but they played like it was 75 degrees,” Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz said of the Spartans. “They played very well all night. They pitched the ball extremely well, and they played great defense.”
Pleasant Valley (3-0) avenged a 5-4 loss to Ankeny in the quarterfinals of last year’s Class 4A state tournament. The Hawks returned almost their entire starting lineup from that squad, but have gotten off to a slow start in 2021.
Ankeny opened the season on Monday by splitting a twinbill against No. 2 Urbandale.
“Other than the (second) game we won against Urbandale, we’ve had a bad inning in every game that has kind of snowballed on us–where maybe one or two runs has turned into four or five,” Balvanz said. “You can’t beat good teams doing that, especially with our approach at the plate tonight. We just had too many strikeouts.”
Pleasant Valley’s Barrett Lindmark tossed a six-hitter in the nightcap. He walked none and had 10 strikeouts.
“(Lindmark) was really tough,” Balvanz said. “He was moving the ball up and down, and in and out. He was making our guys really uncomfortable. I was very impressed with him and their whole team.”
Carter Smith and Jase Bauer each went 2-for-3 and scored a run for the Hawks. Brody Brecht hit a two-run double in the sixth inning to spoil Lindmark’s bid for a shutout.
Pleasant Valley had taken a 5-0 lead in the second inning. The Spartans took advantage of three walks from Ankeny starter Dylan Schlee, who allowed six runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings.
“Dylan lost his control for a bit, and then we had a grounder in the hole and our throw was a little short and got away,” Balvanz said. “It was like a three-run ground ball. It was tough to watch.”
Ryan Mumey went 3-for-4 and drove in a run for Pleasant Valley. Lindmark had a pair of RBIs.
In the first game, Pleasant Valley jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning against Ankeny starter Samuel Andrews. Andrews allowed only two earned runs on three hits over the first five innings, but the damage had already been done.
“We spotted them three runs, and we gave them two of those runs,” Balvanz said. “When you play good teams like we did this week and you’re not ready to go, you’re going to have a rough night.”
Ankeny loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning, but Pleasant Valley starter AJ Bynum got out of the jam by retiring the next three batters. He allowed two runs on four hits over the first six innings before Alex Clemons got the final three outs to earn a save.
Weston Fulk and Colin Riggs each drove in a run for the Hawks. Cael Boyd had a double.
“We played two really good teams this week, and we just put ourselves in spots where we couldn’t be aggressive and play our style of baseball,” Balvanz said. “We can’t run the bases when we’re down five runs. You can’t be making outs at second base trying to score one run. When you’re playing from behind, you’re kind of handcuffed.
“We certainly have some things to pick on after this week in order to get better,” he added.
