A much-anticipated showdown between two of the state’s top high school baseball prospects lived up to the hype.
Ankeny Centennial’s Joey Oakie outdueled fellow righthander Trever Baumler as the fifth-ranked Jaguars posted a 4-0 victory in a CIML Conference game at No. 8 Dowling Catholic on Tuesday.
“Baumler’s a great player, and I’ve grown up playing against him since I was who knows when,” said Oakie. “He came out there and pitched really well, too. It was a tough battle. It was fun.”
Oakie tossed a three-hitter and had 16 strikeouts before a large crowd that included numerous MLB scouts. He evened his record at 1-1 after taking a loss at Waukee on May 20, when he allowed five walks in 3 2/3 innings.
“I knew that wasn’t me,” Oakie said of his previous outing. “I went back and grinded my bullpens throughout the week and got back to where I’m usually at.”
Oakie took the mound with a 2-0 lead after his teammates scratched across a pair of runs against Baumler in the top of the first inning.
After Johnathan Carrasco led off with a walk and Isaac Bruhl was hit by a pitch, Oakie advanced the runners with a grounder. Carrasco scored on another grounder by Emerson Alberhasky, then Kohen Bollwinkel drove in Bruhl with an infield single that deflected off Baumler.
“I thought we played unselfish baseball all night,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey. “We had some really good situational hitting, and we played like we were on fire a couple of times when the ball was in the dirt. It was just good, aggressive baseball.”
Two of Dowling’s three hits came in the bottom of the frame. Dylan Webb reached on an infield single with one out and stole second, but was then thrown out at home trying to score on a single by Baumler.
“(Catcher) Leyton (Kolln) called a great game, and I had great defense behind me,” Oakie said. “My pitches were all working tonight, and it just all came together for a good team win.”
Oakie gave up a single to Matthew Hanten in the second inning, but then shut the Maroons down the rest of the way. He struck out the side in both the fourth and sixth innings.
“He was really on his game tonight, and that was good to see,” Hey said of the Iowa recruit. “I’m just really proud of the way he battled every inning.”
In the seventh, Baumler led off with a walk and stole second. After Oakie fanned Max Shelton for the third time, Baumler was thrown out by Kolln trying to steal third.
On his 91st pitch of the night, Oakie then struck out Drew Brauch for the third time to end the game.
“He’s one of the smartest pitchers I know,” Hey said. “He’s always thinking about different things with his delivery and where his hand needs to be on the ball on different pitches. He’s one of the best I’ve ever seen at analyzing himself. If he did (make any adjustments after last week), I don’t know. I just think he was tired. We figured out maybe running for him would be better than having him run the bases. I think the last outing was just an aberration. This was the real Joey Oakie tonight.”
Baumler, a TCU commit, allowed two earned runs on three hits and had eight strikeouts over the first five innings. He was relieved by Jack Clendenin after throwing 73 pitches.
Bruhl greeted Clendenin with a triple to lead off the sixth. He then scored on a sacrifice fly by Oakie.
Sean Stewart later hit another sacrifice fly to drive in the final run for the Jaguars, who improved to 1-1 in the conference and 5-1 overall. Dowling’s records dropped to 1-1 and 4-2.
Bruhl went 2-for-2 in the win, while Bollwinkel went 2-for-3. Will Morris had Centennial’s other hit before leaving the game with what appeared to be a leg injury.
The Jaguars will play a conference doubleheader at Valley (3-5) on Wednesday.
