The Ankeny baseball team opened its season on Wednesday by splitting a non-conference doubleheader at eighth-ranked Pleasant Valley, the defending Class 4A state champion.
The Hawks rallied for a 9-8 victory in the opener, then overcame a 6-1 deficit in the nightcap to tie it up before Pleasant Valley (1-2) posted a 9-8 win to salvage a split.
“We had fun,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “We’ve got a lot of new guys, but I think as this team matures people will be impressed with the product we’ll put out there.”
Ankeny scored four runs in the fourth inning and three more in the sixth to win the first game. Alex Griess earned the victory on the mound with three strong innings of relief, and Easton Dunwoody got the final three outs to pick up a save.
Tamden Webb-Tate went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs. Reid Johnson went 2-for-3 with a double and drove in two runs.
Thomas DeBrower scored four runs and knocked in two.
“We got down early,” Balvanz said. “We made some mistakes, but we battled back.”
Webb-Tate went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs in the second game. Jack Clevidence also went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs, while Dylan Schlee went 3-for-5 and had two RBIs.
Brock Adamson took the loss.
“I wasn’t sure if we had the resilience to come back again, but we did,” Balvanz said.
The Hawks will play a doubleheader at No. 6 Waukee Northwest (4-0) on Monday. It will be their CIML Iowa Conference opener.
