The Ankeny Centennial baseball team raised its record to 21-6 on the season with a pair of victories in the Brent Prange Classic this weekend.
The second-ranked Jaguars opened the tournament on Friday with an 8-4 win over Davenport Assumption, the No. 7 team in Class 3A. They then followed with a 7-2 triumph over Carlisle on Saturday.
“We faced two really good teams, and that’s kind of what this tournament is about,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey. “Some of the best teams in the state come here, and we played two really good teams. We had good pitching and good timely hitting, and I don’t think we committed an error this weekend. So we played well in all three phases.”
Centennial used a five-run second inning to break open the game against Carlisle (7-15). Isaac Bruhl was named the Jaguars’ MVP after going 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
Johnathan Carrasco tripled and drove in a run. Preston Glatt, Jackson Reed, Emerson Alberhasky and Josh Quinlin also had RBIs in the win, while Reed Anderson went 1-for-2 with a walk and scored a pair of runs.
Carter Smalley (1-1) was the winning pitcher, combining with four others on a five-hitter. He allowed one hit and had two strikeouts across two innings of work.
“We kind of wanted to get everybody some work on the mound,” Hey said. “The game kind of worked out well to do that, and we were able to use a lot of different guys. Now we have everybody lined up for next week. I’m happy with the results.”
On Friday, the Jaguars used a four-run third inning to erase an early 2-0 deficit against Assumption (16-11). They later scored three runs in the sixth to seal the win.
Alberhasky went 2-for-3 with a double, a triple and scored three times. He was named the Jaguars’ MVP.
Joey Oakie doubled and drove in two runs. Leyton Kolln also had two RBIs.
Anderson doubled and knocked in a run. Carrasco and Kohen Bollwinkel each had an RBI, while Reed tripled and scored a run.
“We got hits from all parts of the lineup,” Hey said. “We had guys batting 7, 8 and 9 getting a lot of hits, and that shows how deep we are offensively. We have good hitters everywhere.”
Will Morris (4-1) tossed an eight-hitter to earn the win. He walked one and had four strikeouts.
Isiah Rose went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs for the Knights. He was named Assumption’s MVP.
The Jaguars will play at Johnston on Monday in a showdown for first place in the CIML Conference. The No. 4 Dragons lead the league with a 13-5 mark and are 23-5 overall.
Centennial (11-4) trails Johnston by a half-game. The Jaguars swept an earlier doubleheader on June 3 by scores of 5-2 and 4-2.
