Ankeny Centennial pitcher Joey Oakie put on a dazzling display Friday.
The sophomore righthander tossed a one-hitter and struck out 14 of the 15 batters that he retired as the fifth-ranked Jaguars opened the baseball postseason with a 10-0 victory over visiting Fort Dodge in five innings in a Class 4A substate quarterfinal.
“Props to my catcher for calling a great game,” said Oakie, who evened his record at 3-3. “All of my pitches were working, and Nick (Severson) knew that. He found the good locations, and we just worked the counts.”
Oakie struck out the side in every inning but the second, when he allowed the first of his two walks. He threw 86 pitches through five innings, but did not have to go back to the mound after Centennial scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth to end the game.
“We kind of took his changeup out tonight, but the last three games he has been spot on,” Severson said. “He’s just a great pitcher. That’s the best we’ve seen from him this year, but hopefully he’ll be even better the next game he pitches.”
Fort Dodge’s lone hit came in the fourth inning, when Triston Bockoven led off with an infield single. Centennial shortstop Lucas Bruhl made a diving stop, but his throw to first was not in time for the out.
“I thought I was going to get him, but I threw it in the dirt a little bit,” said Bruhl. “We’re always ready. Our defense is good, but when you’ve got a pitcher like Joey, we don’t really have to do anything out there.”
The Jaguars (24-13) defeated Fort Dodge for the fourth time in five meetings this season. All four wins came via the mercy rule.
The Dodgers finished with a 15-23 record.
“It was a very nice win,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey. “They’re a really good ball club with (Carson) Peterson on the mound, and we knew it was going to be a challenge. But I thought our guys stepped up really well.”
Centennial jumped out to an early lead as Fort Dodge committed three errors before recording an out in the first inning, two of them on the same play. After Easton Miller reached on an error, Kyle Miller hit a bouncer back to Peterson that could have resulted in a double play, but Peterson’s throw to second sailed into center field.
Easton Miller raced to third and came home on another throwing error. Severson then hit a one-out single to drive in Kyle Miller.
“We had a little bit of a scouting report (on Peterson), but they just kept throwing fastballs,” said Severson, who went 3-for-4 and had two RBIs. “I just kept swinging and I got three (hits), and it felt great.”
Severson singled again in the third inning to ignite a four-run outburst. After Damin Churchman reached on an error and Sean Stewart was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Lincoln Lacey and Bruhl followed with back-to-back RBI singles.
“We played them four times this year and had seen (Peterson) a couple times, so that helped,” Bruhl said.
Bruhl has recovered from an injury to his eye that he suffered during a doubleheader against Ankeny last week. The ball took a bad hop on a grounder and deflected off his face.
“I’m a lot better. I can see now,” Bruhl said. “The bruising is down, and nothing is broken.”
After Isaac Bruhl popped out, Easton Miller hit an infield single that drove in Stewart and Lacey to give the Jaguars a 6-0 lead.
That was more than enough of a cushion for Oakie, who cruised through the next two innings after giving up the infield hit to Bockoven.
“When he’s on like that, and even when he’s not on, he’s a pretty special pitcher,” Hey said. “I was just very proud of his composure tonight. He pitched ahead in the count on just about everybody, and I don’t think they hit one out of the infield off him. It was just a very impressive performance by him.”
Severson hit an RBI single in the fifth inning to make it 7-0. Churchman followed with a two-run single and eventually scored on a wild pitch to end the game.
“They’re swinging the bats very well right now, and they have a lot of confidence at the plate,” Hey said. “We had a lot of two-strike hits tonight, so the guys were really battling.”
Centennial will host Mason City (22-17) in a substate semifinal on Monday. The River Hawks advanced with a 5-2 victory at Ames.
The Jaguars swept a doubleheader against Mason City on June 15.
