Darin Severs overcame a rocky start to remain unbeaten and the ninth-ranked Ankeny Centennial baseball team celebrated its Senior Night with an 8-2 victory over visiting Norwalk in a non-conference game on Monday.
After giving up two runs in the first inning, one of which was unearned, Severs went on to toss a three-hitter. He walked three and had six strikeouts while raising his record to 6-0.
“I thought Darin threw the ball extremely well, and we played some good defense behind him,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey.
The Jaguars answered Norwalk’s fast start with three runs of their own in the bottom of the first. They added a run in the second inning, another in the fifth and three more in the sixth to improve to 19-9 on the season.
It was the fourth straight loss for the Warriors, who dropped to 11-13.
“I thought our bats really hit the ball well,” Hey said. “Our guys had a good approach at the plate. Even some of our outs were hit really hard.”
Kohen Bollwinkel went 3-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs to lead the way. Isaac Bruhl went 3-for-4 with a double and scored twice.
Alex Cory went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Reed Anderson drove in a pair of runs.
Anderson, Bollwinkel, Bruhl and Severs were among the seniors who were honored.
“This is a very special group of seniors. They are just tremendous leaders–every single one of them,” Hey said. “I don’t like to think that kids ever leave our program. I try to ignore that as much as I can, but we’re really going to miss these kids when the season is over because they are a very special bunch.”
The Jaguars will play a CIML Conference game on Wednesday at Dowling Catholic (6-11, 13-14). The Maroons were swept in a doubleheader at Centennial on June 9.
