The Ankeny Centennial baseball team entered Wednesday’s contest at Dowling Catholic with an 8-3 record and a seven-game winning streak in one-run decisions.
The ninth-ranked Jaguars have demonstrated an ability to win close games, but this was one that got away from them.
Dowling scored the winning run on an error in the bottom of the ninth inning to post a 5-4 victory, allowing the Maroons to avenge a doubleheader loss at Centennial on June 9.
“It was certainly a close one,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey, whose team never trailed until the end. “You hate to lose those, but it happens sometimes. Especially when you’re on the road, you have to play a little cleaner because you don’t get that last at-bat. It was a tough one to lose, but those happen.”
The Jaguars threatened to take the lead for the fourth time in the top of the ninth. They had two runners on with two outs before Dowling reliever Dylan Webb picked Isaac Bruhl off second base to end the inning.
Carter Nicholson then singled off Centennial reliever TJ Hood (3-2) to ignite the Maroons’ winning rally in the bottom of the frame. He advanced to second on another single by Will Kelly.
Jack Barrett followed with a bunt that was fielded cleanly by Hood, but his hurried throw to third in an effort to get the lead runner eluded Will Morris and skipped down the left-field line, allowing Nicholson to trot home with the winning run.
“It felt like a postseason game,” Hey said. “You never know at the end of the year when you look back on things how important it might be. We’ve been in some tight games, but every time your kids have to play under pressure you learn a lot about them and they learn a lot about themselves.”
The loss dropped Centennial into fifth place in the logjam at the top of the CIML Conference. The Jaguars are now 11-8 in the league and 19-10 overall, while Dowling raised its records to 7-12 and 14-15 while snapping its four-game losing skid.
Both starting pitchers turned in outstanding efforts. Morris allowed three earned runs on eight hits and had five strikeouts over the first seven innings.
“Will had a couple of little mechanical issues early on, but I thought he fixed them as the game went on,” Hey said. “He just bulldogged his way through that game. I thought his velocity went up as the game went on, and his command went up. He’s a special player, and he’s a gamer.”
Barrett, meanwhile, overcame a rocky start for the Maroons. He gave up two runs in the first inning after hitting the first three batters of the game, but then settled down and pitched 8 1/3 innings–allowing three earned runs on seven hits.
“I thought we had good at-bats throughout the game for the most part, and I was happy with the way we approached (Barrett),” Hey said. “He’s just an excellent pitcher–one of Dowling’s top pitchers–but that’s what you want to see this time of year. You don’t want to see a guy that is fourth, fifth or sixth on their staff because you’re not going to see that in the postseason. You want to see their best.”
Centennial took a 3-2 lead in the fifth when Will Nesler hit a leadoff double and eventually scored on a grounder by Kohen Bollwinkel. The Maroons then tied it on Barrett’s RBI double in the bottom of the inning.
The Jaguars regained the lead in the top of the eighth after Bollwinkel led off with an infield single. Reed Anderson reached on a fielder’s choice, then came all the way around to score when a chopper to third by Cade Newman was thrown away by Dowling’s Joey Nahas for an error.
Colton Arndt came in to try to close it out for Centennial, but the Maroons loaded the bases with one out without getting a hit. Hood then took over on the mound to face pinch-hitter Enzo Martin, whose grounder to second allowed Parker DePhillips to race home with the tying run.
The Jaguars almost turned a game-ending double play, but Martin narrowly beat the relay throw to first.
“Sometimes you wonder about those situations–whether to play your guys in and try to throw them out at the plate for the second out,” Hey said. “We had them about halfway and we tried to turn two, but they had good speed in the box and things just didn’t go our way.”
Nesler went 2-for-4 and scored a pair of runs in the loss. Anderson had two RBIs.
Centennial will host a conference game against Valley (13-8, 19-12) on Thursday. The Tigers are tied for second place in the league with No. 5 Johnston, trailing No. 3 Waukee Northwest by one game.
The Jaguars swept a doubleheader at Valley on June 12.
