A road trip to Ames resulted in back-to-back shutouts for the Ankeny baseball team on Wednesday.
The Hawks posted a 12-0 victory in the opener, then completed a sweep of the non-conference doubleheader with a 9-0 win. They improved to 5-6 overall.
“The boys played pretty well tonight,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “We turned like three or four double plays, and both of our pitchers were phenomenal working ahead in the count all night.”
Travis Gerstel (2-0) tossed a four-hitter in the first game. He needed just 80 pitches to go the distance.
Karsten Bernholtz went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and three RBIs for the Hawks. Blake Morgan went 3-for-4 with a double and also drove in three runs.
Kinnick Vos went 2-for-4 and had two RBIs. Carson Riggs went 2-for-5, scored three runs and knocked in two more.
Vos and Riggs also shined on defense.
“Those two worked really well together up the middle,” Balvanz said.
Ankeny jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first two innings. The Hawks later punctuated the win with a four-run seventh.
Ankeny also had a big seventh inning in the second game. The Hawks led by just 4-0 before scoring five times in their final at-bat.
Vos drove in three more runs in the nightcap. He also stole two bases.
Will Davies (1-1) followed Gerstel’s gem with a four-hitter of his own. He needed just 75 pitches to complete the game, finishing with four strikeouts.
Davies also doubled and had two RBIs. Henry Ha went 2-for-4 and knocked in a run.
“Karsten, Morgan and Ha had great at-bats all night,” Balvanz said.
Ames is off to a rough start after placing second in Class 4A a year ago. The Little Cyclones dropped to 2-9.
The Hawks will host a CIML Conference game against No. 1 Johnston (12-0) on Thursday. The defending state champion Dragons own a 20-game winning streak dating back to last season.
