The Ankeny Centennial baseball team was hoping to follow up Friday’s Senior Night victory over Sioux City West with two more wins on Saturday in Cedar Rapids.
Instead, the Jaguars suffered a pair of losses at Mount Mercy University.
Centennial dropped a 13-7 decision to West Delaware in its opening game. The Hawks (17-6) used a 12-run fourth inning to erase a 6-1 deficit.
Emerson Alberhasky (0-2) took the loss. He allowed eight earned runs in 3 1/3 innings.
Luke Kehrli doubled and drove in two runs for West Delaware. Isaac Fettkether also had two RBIs, while Tyrus Werner went 2-for-4 with a double to lead the Hawks’ nine-hit attack.
“We weren’t locating pitches very well, and they got a lot of free bases,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey, whose team is now 7-9 on the season. “It’s hard to come back from a 12-run inning.”
The Jaguars had 10 hits off four West Delaware pitchers, but it wasn’t enough. Cole Grider went 2-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs, while Sean Stewart and Damin Churchman each drove in two runs.
“Our hitting was fine,” Hey said. “We had some kids who had very productive at-bats all day long. There are some little things that we can build off of.”
Later, Cedar Rapids Kennedy defeated the Jaguars, 6-1, to even its record at 9-9. Nate Koester and Grant Mather combined on a seven-hitter with seven strikeouts for the Cougars.
Kennedy’s Nolan Grawe went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Matthew Stoltenberg went 2-for-3 with a triple and one RBI.
The Cougars scored in every inning from the second through the sixth. Joey Oakie (0-3) took the loss, allowing three earned runs on seven hits over five innings.
“Kennedy played a really nice game,” Hey said. “They had a couple of well-placed bunts that kind of opened up that second inning. They just kept chipping away, and we couldn’t seem to put up a zero against them in any inning.
“It was a tough day for us. Hopefully, we can make some adjustments and improve from there,” he added.
Easton Miller went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the loss to Kennedy.
The Jaguars will host a CIML Iowa Conference doubleheader against Ames (11-7) on Monday.
“This week will be a test,” Hey said. “We haven’t had heat like this in forever it seems.”
