For the second year in a row, the Ankeny Centennial baseball team made a successful trip to Walt Anderson Field.
The top-ranked Jaguars overcame an early 1-0 deficit to beat Des Moines Roosevelt, 6-1, in a non-conference game on Friday. The contest was played at Rippey, where Centennial posted a 9-0 win over Webster City in last year’s season opener.
Friday’s victory came at the expense of former Ankeny player Randy Wee, who now coaches the Roughriders. Wee played for the Hawks under legendary coach Mel Murken, who lives in Rippey and spearheaded the effort to renovate the baseball field.
“It was really neat for me personally to see Mel and to coach against Randy,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey, whose team improved to 2-0. “What a couple of class guys they are. It was really cool to have the Ankeny connection up there.”
Wee enjoyed the experience as well, despite his team’s loss.
“It was really nice to see Mel again and to be on the field with him and Mark,” he said. “It was pretty special. And then to connect my kids with my baseball history and the history of Rippey, it was pretty neat. They really enjoyed it.”
Centennial’s Emerson Alberhasky (1-0) allowed just one run on five hits over the first six innings. He walked one and had nine strikeouts.
“He’s a really good pitcher, and it’s fun to watch him compete,” Hey said. “He gets his game face on, and he gets locked in.”
After Roosevelt’s Jake Espeland homered on the first pitch of the game, Alberhasky shut down the Roughriders (0-3) the rest of the way. Reliever Carter Smalley needed just eight pitches to get the final three outs.
“We had some chances early, but they made some really nice defensive plays and then they took advantage of some of our mistakes and that was the game,” Wee said.
Centennial tied the score in bottom of the third inning, then added two runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and two more in the sixth. The Jaguars finished with eight hits.
Joey Oakie hit a two-run homer. Leyton Kolln went 2-for-3 and drove in a run.
Johnathan Carrasco also went 2-for-3 in the win. Preston Glatt added an RBI.
“I thought our guys did a nice job of making adjustments, just like the first game (against Gilbert),” Hey said.
The Jaguars will open CIML Conference play on Monday with a game at Waukee (2-1). Oakie, one of the nation’s top pitchers, is expected to make his first start on the mound.
