Easton Miller was hoping that his final baseball game against crosstown rival Ankeny would be one to remember.
He certainly made it so.
The senior outfielder blasted the first two home runs of his high school career to lead top-ranked Ankeny Centennial to an 11-3 victory over the visiting Hawks on Wednesday.
“It was a great feeling,” said Miller. “I kind of struggled early on in the game–I wasn’t doing great at the plate. But that third at-bat, just feeling that contact and seeing (the result) was amazing. And then the next at-bat, I had the exact same approach and hit it again. It felt great.”
Miller drove in four runs as the Jaguars completed a sweep of the season series against No. 10 Ankeny. They improved to 18-3 in the CIML Conference and 27-4 overall, while the Hawks’ records dropped to 9-12 and 17-17.
“It’s always fun to beat your crosstown rival, especially in a way like that,” said winning pitcher Easton Pratt. “Easton comes in with two home runs, and he’s never hit one before. Stuff like that makes you remember it, for sure.”
Centennial remained one game ahead of No. 3 Johnston (18-5) in the conference standings. The Jaguars can clinch the outright league title on Thursday with a sweep at No. 5 Southeast Polk.
“We’ve been tracking (the conference) a little bit, but obviously we know that state is bigger,” Pratt said. “We just want to keep getting better day in and day out, and hopefully it turns out well for us.”
The Hawks got off to a good start in Wednesday’s game, taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Ben Sandvig doubled on the first pitch of the game, advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt and then came home on a sacrifice fly by Carson Agan.
Ankeny starter Zach Halverson (1-2) pitched two perfect innings, then worked his way out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the third. He retired Miller on a fielder’s choice, then got Nick Severson to bounce into an inning-ending double play.
“Our challenge to them was to get out and play with a lead,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “I thought Zach did a good job there of keeping a pretty good offense at bay for the first few innings.”
In the bottom of the fourth, Centennial again loaded the bases with no outs on three consecutive singles by Damin Churchman, Joey Oakie and Emerson Alberhasky. This time, the Jaguars erupted for seven runs.
Kyle Miller hit a grounder to short that took a bad hop, resulting in an error that allowed two runs to score. RBI singles by Lucas and Isaac Bruhl extended the lead to 4-1, then Easton Miller followed with a three-run blast.
“(Halverson) got out of a bases-loaded jam the first time, but it’s difficult to do that twice in back-to-back innings,” Balvanz said. “And then we had a bad hop up the middle that kind of ate Kinnick (Vos) up, and that’s tough to overcome. You give a team like that extra outs, it’s not very often that they’re not going to hang a crooked number up there on you. But tip your cap to them–I thought they came to the plate with a great plan.”
That was all the support that Pratt (7-0) needed. The senior righthander went on to pitch 6 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits.
Pratt, who walked one and had five strikeouts, fanned Sandvig on his 112th and final pitch of the night. Sandvig went 3-for-4 on the night.
“They can put the ball in play, and they scored a few runs,” Pratt said. “They’re a pretty good all-around team.”
Pratt took the mound just two days after throwing 25 pitches in relief to close out the Jaguars’ 8-7 win at Johnston in the second game of a doubleheader on Monday.
“I actually kind of wanted to close out that game,” Pratt said. “I told coach (Mark Hey) I was going to warm up and could close out that game and still be ready for Ankeny today.”
After the Hawks scored two runs in the fifth on a wild pitch and a grounder by Max Watson, Centennial answered with four runs in the sixth to put the game away. Miller ignited the outburst with his second home run to left field–this one off reliever John Morris.
“It’s definitely great to leave a statement on (Ankeny), knowing we won all three games,” Miller said. “After that loss (Tuesday to Dallas Center-Grimes), it just really boosts us to do better and to keep working toward our goal of making it to Iowa City (for the state tournament).”
Miller, who missed seven games earlier this month due to a concussion, had only one extra-base hit this season prior to Wednesday.
“I talked to (Miller) today about what a great leader he is,” Hey said. “He really is the positive influence on this club–his voice of reason, and he just goes out and (plays) his hardest every day. I appreciate so much what he brings to the club, and so it’s great when they have success like that. To hit two, and I think those are his first high school home runs–if not his first home runs of his life. That’s just an exciting thing for him and very well-deserved.”
The Jaguars added three more runs in the inning. After Alberhasky hit an RBI double, Kyle Miller followed with an RBI triple and then came home on a wild pitch.
Alberhasky and Churchman each went 2-for-4 in the win. Isaac Bruhl went 2-for-3.
“I’m proud of our guys for battling all night,” Balvanz said. “They certainly didn’t give up, but (Centennial) was just a better group tonight. I wish them the best of luck in the postseason, and hopefully we can run into them again down the road.”
The Hawks will host a conference doubleheader against Urbandale on Thursday. It will be their Senior Night.
