With six teams in contention for the CIML Conference baseball title, every game in the second half of the season could be the one that ultimately decides the league champion.
Two of the contenders collided on Thursday at Ankeny Centennial, where the eighth-ranked Jaguars were hoping to complete a sweep of the season series against No. 5 Johnston.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
The Dragons rallied for six runs in the final two innings to post a 6-3 victory, their ninth in a row and allowing them to move into a first-place tie with No. 10 Valley. They are now 9-4 in the conference and 15-6 overall, while Centennial’s records dropped to 8-5 and 13-7.
“Will Morris was almost unhittable for the first five innings, but ran into some control problems in the sixth,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey. “Johnston is a good team, and they took advantage of our mistakes. We had four errors, which is uncharacteristic for this team.”
Morris (5-1) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing three earned runs on four hits over the first 6 1/3 innings. He walked four and had seven strikeouts.
Johnston’s Mason Tell went 3-for-3 with a triple and scored a pair of runs. Teammate Sam Kemmer had two RBIs.
Mitch Naig scattered six hits over the first five innings for the Dragons. Kemmer then came in to get the final six outs.
Reed Anderson went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs for Centennial. Jackson Reed doubled and also drove in a run.
Kohen Bollwinkel went 2-for-4 and scored a run. Elijah Starr added a double.
“We had eight hits and 13 baserunners, but couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it,” Hey said. “Kohen and Reed (Anderson) looked very good at the plate.”
The Jaguars will play a non-conference doubleheader on Friday at Davenport North (14-7).
