After losing at Waukee on Monday, the Ankeny Centennial baseball players had to wait several days to play another game.
The wait was worth it.
The top-ranked Jaguars defeated a pair of opponents in the Tim Heggen Invitational on Saturday. They rolled to an 11-1 victory over North Polk in six innings, then followed with a 10-2 triumph over Davenport North.
“Once you start playing games, you don’t like to have that many days off,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey, whose team is now 4-1 on the season. “It was good to see our guys come out really motivated to play well. That was definitely a positive.”
Sean Stewart tossed a four-hitter in the win over North Polk (4-2). He walked one and had eight strikeouts.
“Stewy is going to throw on Thursday (at Dallas Center-Grimes) so we wanted to stretch him out,” Hey said.
Preston Glatt went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI for the Jaguars. Isaac Bruhl went 2-for-3 and scored three times, while Joey Oakie went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs.
Emerson Alberhasky also went 2-for-4 and drove in a run. Centennial used a four-run sixth inning to end the game.
“It was really a team effort,” Hey said. “All of the guys took their turn (at the plate). We strung together a couple of big innings in each game.”
Against Davenport North (4-3), the Jaguars scored seven runs in the sixth inning to put the game away. Alberhasky had the big blow with a three-run double.
Kohen Bollwinkel went 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored. Leyton Kolln went 2-for-3 and knocked in a run, while Glatt doubled and had an RBI.
Four Centennial pitchers combined on an eight-hitter. Will Morris (2-0) got the win, racking up five strikeouts over two scoreless innings.
“We just wanted to get a lot of guys some work,” Hey said. “All of them came in and just threw outstanding, and they’ll all be ready to go on Wednesday (for a doubleheader at Valley).”
Centennial will play a CIML Conference game at No. 6 Dowling Catholic (4-1) on Tuesday. Oakie could face the Maroons’ Trever Baumler in a matchup of two of the state’s top pitchers.
