Evan Irlmeier raced home with the winning run on an error in the bottom of the 11th inning, and the Ankeny baseball team completed a sweep of Friday’s doubleheader against sixth-ranked Southeast Polk with a 4-3 victory.
The host Hawks overcame an early 4-0 deficit to win the opener, 10-4. They improved to 3-2 in the CIML Conference and 7-6 overall, while the Rams’ records dropped to 3-3 and 12-4.
Southeast Polk entered the twinbill on a six-game winning streak.
“That’s a really good team, and they’re going to be tough in the postseason,” Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz said of the Rams. “But it was fun to see our older guys lead by example and bring the younger guys along.”
The nightcap was tied at 3-3 after four innings. The two teams then went scoreless until the bottom of the 11th, when Irlmeier reached on an infield single and stole second.
Kinnick Vos hit a grounder off the glove of pitcher Maddox O’Connor, and Irlmeier came around to score when the Rams committed their fifth error of the game on a wild throw to first.
“We had some outstanding at-bats,” Balvanz said. “The guys just battled and tried to make people make plays. The goal was to put constant pressure on them.”
Vos went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs, while Irlmeier and Max Watson went 2-for-4. Reid Johnson went 2-for-5 with a double and one RBI, and Carson Agan also had a double.
Freshman Will Davies (2-1) earned the victory with four scoreless innings of relief. He allowed three hits, walked one and had three strikeouts.
Starter Zach Halverson racked up 10 strikeouts over the first seven innings. He allowed one earned run on six hits.
“It was a really good effort on the mound out of everybody that we used,” Balvanz said. “Halverson was tremendous.”
In the first game, Alex Griess (2-1) earned the win with 5 1/3 strong innings, allowing three earned runs on eight hits. He walked four and had six strikeouts before reliever Adam Mein got the final five outs.
“Griess had a little setback in that Dowling Catholic doubleheader (on May 22), so we held him off for about 10-12 days just so he could feel right again,” Balvanz said. “He came out and gave us a chance to win.”
Ankeny scored three runs in the second inning to pull within 4-3. The Hawks then erupted for five runs in the fourth to build an 8-4 advantage.
Watson went 4-for-5 with a triple and three RBIs. Irlmeier and Ben Sandvig each went 2-for-4 and knocked in two runs, while Ryan Maire went 3-for-4 and had one RBI.
Ankeny had just two errors in each game.
“I thought we played some really good defense, especially up the middle with (second baseman) Sandvig and (shortstop) Vos,” Balvanz said. “And Irlmeier has some really good ball-tracking skills in center field.”
The Hawks will host a conference game against No. 8 Waukee Northwest (8-9) on Monday.
