A clutch hit from senior Kinnick Vos finally ended a pitchers’ duel at the Ankeny baseball field.
Vos hit a walk-off single with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Hawks a 2-1 victory over crosstown rival Ankeny Centennial on Monday.
“That was awesome,” said Voss. “That’s what you live for. That was a blast.”
Pinch-hitter Lennon Perrine started Ankeny’s rally with a leadoff double against Centennial reliever TJ Hood (0-1). Pinch-runner Lucas Bellis then advanced to third when Easton Lowe bunted and reached on an error.
After Samuel Sandvig was intentionally walked to load the bases, Vos realized that he might have a chance to become the hero.
“I didn’t think we were going to get there (to me),” he said. “But when they walked Sam, I knew it was either me or (Brady Carter) who would come through. I was excited for the opportunity.”
After Carter grounded into a force play at home, Vos fouled off a couple of pitches before getting one that he could drive. He ended the game with a blast over Centennial center fielder Jackson Reed, allowing Lowe to trot home from third.
“I was just looking for a pitch that I could put in the air,” Vos said. “I knew the infield was in, so I tried to get one up in the air and then get a tag at best. They were playing super shallow (in the outfield), so maybe pop one over their heads.”
The win was the third in a row for Ankeny. The Hawks improved to 1-3 in the CIML Conference and 3-7 overall, while Centennial’s records dropped to 2-2 and 4-3.
“That’s a great win,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “I’ve kind of been seeing signs of life in practice. I thought we played well on Friday (in a doubleheader sweep over Bondurant-Farrar), and we’ve played a tough schedule. There isn’t much that these guys haven’t seen, and it was nice to see them respond today. I need to do a better job of not getting three dudes blown up at the plate in one game, but we’re just trying to be aggressive and make some plays.”
The game featured a pair of outstanding pitching performances. Starters Will Davies of Ankeny and Colton Arndt of Centennial both deserved to win, but ended up getting no-decisions.
Davies allowed just one earned run on four hits over the first 6 2/3 innings. He walked two and had six strikeouts.
“I really just let my defense work,” said Davies. “After that first inning, I knew that they were going to play behind me. So I just let them go.”
Arndt was equally effective for the Jaguars, allowing just one earned run on five hits over six innings. He walked three and had three strikeouts.
“Both guys threw outstanding,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey. “Will is a great pitcher, and he really had good stuff tonight. You’re just not going to score a ton of runs off him.”
The Hawks took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Sandvig drew a leadoff walk and was eventually knocked in by Vos.
Centennial tied it in the fifth. Isaac Bruhl doubled and later came home on a sacrifice fly by Will Morris.
Davies left the game after walking Reed with two outs in the seventh. He threw 113 pitches.
“That was just a tremendous effort by Will,” Balvanz said.
After reliever Hunter Minner walked Morris, Balvanz brought in Cole Nuzum to face Kohen Bollwinkel. Nuzum (1-0) got a strikeout to end the inning.
“I know Cole’s a dog,” Davies said. “When he went in there, I knew he’d get the job done. I knew we were going to get the (win).”
That set the stage for Vos’ heroics a few minutes later.
“Our leader walked it off,” Balvanz said of Vos. “I’ll take my chances with him any day of the week. As he does most of the time, he came through there in a big way and gave the team a big lift.”
Vos said the Hawks didn’t panic after opening the season with a seven-game losing skid.
“This team has been through a lot. We’re battle-tested,” he said. “Our first seven games were against top-five teams. We’ve seen a lot of good arms and been in a lot of good situations, so I knew we were ready to go. That was finally a breakthrough win, and we’re all excited to get one.”
Hey was proud of his team, too.
“I thought our kids battled,” he said. “We had some good, competitive at-bats, and then defensively we just made some great plays. Bruhl made a great play (at shortstop) on a bad hop to throw a guy out at home, Kohen threw a guy out from right field, and Will Nesler made a great play (at second base) in that last inning to make the game go a little longer.”
Both teams will be back in action on Wednesday. Centennial will host a conference doubleheader against Southeast Polk (10-4), while the Hawks will host a CIML twinbill against Urbandale (5-4).
“If I can get them to play together and play selflessly, I think we’ll continue to play sound baseball and be able to compete in this very tough league,” Balvanz said.
