The Ankeny baseball team was on the verge of being swept on the road Thursday at Southeast Polk.
After dropping an 8-0 decision in the first game of a doubleheader, the Hawks fell behind in the nightcap, 7-2, after four innings.
But Ankeny refused to go away quietly.
A four-run fifth inning cut Southeast Polk’s lead to 7-6. After the Rams got a run in the bottom of the frame, Ankeny erupted for six runs in the seventh and salvaged a split with a 12-8 victory.
“We just had some phenomenal at-bats in the last three innings of that game. We had 19 quality at-bats,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “They brought some different (pitchers) in, but our guys just kept plugging away. I was really proud of our resiliency. If you got outs left, you still have a chance. You just have to keep fighting, and that’s what we did.”
Easton Lowe tripled and had two RBIs for the Hawks. Kinnick Vos went 3-for-5 with a triple and drove in a run.
Brady Carter doubled and had one RBI. Kobe Behrens and Jackson Romig each went 2-for-5, scored a run and knocked in another.
Reliever Cole Nuzum (3-0) earned his third win of the week. He allowed one earned run on five hits and had two strikeouts over the last 4 2/3 innings.
“Cole was eligible to pitch, and I just decided to see how long he could go and what he could do,” Balvanz said. “That young man just continues to compete out there.”
In the opener, the Rams scored six runs in the first inning off Ankeny starter Jackson Molloy (1-1). The top four hitters in the Southeast Polk lineup went a combined 10-for-16 with two doubles, a triple and six RBIs.
“Those four guys can really swing it,” Balvanz said. “Jackson was around the zone and I thought he was throwing some good pitches, but they were on him. And so we had to make a change.”
Relievers Gavin Nuzum and Will Carrell allowed two earned runs on six hits over the last 5 1/3 innings.
“It’s tough to chase six runs,” Balvanz said. “I thought we got good relief efforts from the guys that threw, and our defense did a nice job. We fought and hung in, and that’s a kudos to our kids’ competitiveness.”
The Hawks had just three hits off Chase Burke, who went the distance in the shutout. He walked three and had seven strikeouts.
The win in the second game improved Ankeny’s records to 3-5 in the CIML Conference and 5-9 overall. The Rams are now 4-2 and 12-6.
Thursday’s split felt much better for the Hawks than Wednesday’s split against visiting Urbandale, which posted a 7-5 victory in the nightcap to avoid a sweep.
“We’re going to look back at that one and think that’s one we probably should have won,” Balvanz said. “But then we won one (at Southeast Polk) that we probably shouldn’t have. So everything kind of evens out sometimes. You just can’t get too high or too low.”
Ankeny will host a conference doubleheader against seventh-ranked Waukee Northwest on Monday. The Wolves are 4-3 and 10-3 after splitting with No. 9 Ankeny Centennial on Thursday.