After closing out the regular season on Wednesday against the champions of the Little Hawkeye Conference, the Ankeny baseball team will now prepare for another opponent from the eight-team league.
The Hawks, who dropped a 6-3 decision to eighth-ranked Dallas Center-Grimes on their home field, will host Norwalk in a Class 4A substate quarterfinal on Friday at 7 p.m. The Warriors are 11-20 after losing at ADM (Adel), 2-1, on Wednesday.
“I don’t know a whole lot about them,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “But they play in a tough conference, and in a one-game set anything can happen.”
Ankeny fell to 19-19 after the loss to Dallas Center-Grimes. The Mustangs (28-6) used a four-run second inning to erase an early 2-1 deficit and went on to extend their winning streak to 10 games.
Jack Clevidence (2-1) took the loss. He allowed four earned runs on seven hits over the first two innings.
“We had a rough second inning,” Balvanz said. “Clev struggled with his command a little bit, and he gave up some free bases. We gave up a 4-spot there, and that was hard to recover from. But the guys continued to play hard.”
Reid Johnson doubled and drove in a run for the Hawks. Kinnick Vos also had an RBI.
Ankeny had just three hits off Dylan Jensen, who was making only his second appearance of the season.
“They threw a kid that kind of pitched backwards on us all night. He threw a lot of curveballs,” Balvanz said. “It certainly gives me some stuff to work into practice (Thursday).”
Taitn Gray went 3-for-4 and knocked in a run for Dallas Center-Grimes, which had nine hits off four Ankeny pitchers. Dayne Mauk went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, while Logan Young had a triple.
“They swing it well,” Balvanz said of the Mustangs. “I was impressed with them. They have a good lineup.”
The Hawks were coming off a 9-5 loss to Valley on Monday, when the Tigers rallied for seven runs in the seventh inning.
“It’s one of the challenges to keep guys focused when they can be looking ahead to that substate matchup,” Balvanz said. “We kind of gave one away on Monday, and we didn’t play poorly tonight but it wasn’t one of our better efforts. We just have to come back in the morning and be ready to get to work.”
Now, Ankeny will face a Norwalk team that played well down the stretch, reeling off four straight wins before the loss at ADM. The Warriors also posted a 6-1 victory at Dallas Center-Grimes on June 7, handing the Mustangs one of their three losses in conference play.
Balvanz said his team can’t afford to overlook Norwalk. He told his players the story of Ankeny’s 3-2 substate loss to Council Bluffs Jefferson in 2014.
“That was the game where Nate Schweers struck out 17 (and tossed a three-hitter),” Balvanz said. “They hit one ball out of the infield, and we lost.”
