It’s going to be a long week for the Ankeny baseball team.
Monday’s trip to Johnston was just the beginning of a six-day stretch where the Hawks will play nearly every day.
Ankeny posted a 3-2 victory in nine innings in the completion of a game that was suspended due to rain on May 30. The third-ranked Dragons then followed with a pair of victories, 9-4 and 10-4.
Johnston is now 13-4 in the CIML Conference and 23-6 overall. The Hawks’ records dropped to 7-10 and 12-14.
The first game was resumed in the top of the sixth inning with the score tied at 2-2. Neither team threatened to score until the ninth.
Ankeny’s Alex Griess–who started the game last month–picked up where he left off, allowing just two earned runs on eight hits over the first 8 1/3 innings. He walked five and had four strikeouts and threw a combined 136 pitches before being relieved by Brock Adamson with one out in the ninth.
Adamson immediately allowed a walk and a hit, but then retired Tyne Weeden and Adam Kayko on a pair of grounders to leave runners stranded at the corners.
“I had faith that my team was back behind me,” Adamson said. “I was hoping we could roll it over on a couple of plays, and that’s what we did.”
In the bottom of the ninth, Ankeny’s Reid Johnson and Ryan Maire drew a pair of walks to start the winning rally. With two outs, Karsten Bernholtz hit a walk-off single up the middle to end the game.
“(The Johnston pitcher) had just thrown a high fastball, and I knew his off-speed was coming based on his previous pitches and (Bernholtz’s) previous swings,” Adamson said. “But I knew he was prepared to hammer it into a hole.”
Bernholtz had two RBIs in the win, while Jack Clevidence went 2-for-4 and drove in a run. Max Watson also went 2-for-4.
Adamson (4-2) earned the victory in relief, but he later took the loss in the final game of the night. The Hawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first, but Johnston closed the gap to 4-3 after two innings and eventually used a four-run fifth to take the lead for good.
Adamson allowed five earned runs on six hits over the first 4 1/3 innings. He walked two and had five strikeouts.
Kinnick Vos went 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBIs in the loss. Evan Irlmeier also knocked in a run, while Carson Agan went 2-for-4 and scored a run.
Ankeny also held a lead in the middle game before the Dragons rallied. The Hawks scored two runs in the second inning before Johnston erupted for an eight-run outburst in the fourth.
Griess (3-3) again started and cruised through the first three innings before running into trouble. Reliever Zach Halverson was unable to stop the Dragons’ rally, giving up six unearned runs.
Maire went 2-for-3 and scored a run for Ankeny. Watson went 2-for-4.
Ben Sandvig, Charlie Voigt and Bernholtz each had an RBI.
The Hawks will play a non-conference doubleheader at Linn-Mar (Marion) (13-11) on Tuesday.
