The Ankeny Centennial baseball team defeated a pair of ranked opponents in the Brent Prange Classic on Friday.
The ninth-ranked Jaguars posted 3-2 wins over Van Meter and Ballard (Huxley). Van Meter is the No. 3 team in Class 2A, while Ballard is the No. 5 team in Class 3A.
“I’m very proud of the guys,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey. “It was a great team effort in both games.”
Jackson Reed hit a walk-off, inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Van Meter (18-6). It was his second homer of the season and the Jaguars’ third.
“I was down in the count and fouled one off of my shin and the next pitch was down the middle so I barreled it up and it went straight to the right-field gap,” said Reed. “I think the center fielder fumbled it a little bit before throwing it in, but my coach was waving me home so I trusted him.”
Reed’s homer was one of only two hits off Van Meter’s Cole Moore. His last inside-the-park home run came in Little League in the 8U division.
“Cole is just an outstanding pitcher, but I thought our guys battled him well,” Hey said. “We still had him at 89 mph in the last inning, so Jackson’s hit was even more impressive given the pitcher he was facing.”
Isaac Bruhl had Centennial’s only other hit. He scored a run and drove in another during a two-run third inning that tied the game.
TJ Hood (3-1) earned the victory, allowing two earned runs on five hits. He walked one and had five strikeouts.
“We got great starting pitching in both games from TJ and Trae (Houser), and a clutch save from Brekken Miller in the second game,” Hey said. “We also had a really good approach at the plate (against Ballard) that led to some clutch hits.”
The Jaguars used a two-run sixth to break a 1-1 tie against Ballard (18-6). They raised their record to 18-8.
William Nesler went 2-for-4 with a double and one RBI in the win. Cade Newman went 2-for-3 and knocked in a run, while Darin Severs went 2-for-3 with a double and scored a run.
Houser (1-3) allowed one earned run on three hits over the first six innings with eight strikeouts. Miller got the final three outs with two more strikeouts.
Hood and Nesler were named Centennial’s team MVPs.
The Jaguars will travel to Southeast Polk on Saturday for a make-up CIML Conference game against the Rams (16-13).
