The Ankeny baseball team fell out of contention for the CIML Conference title early in the season.
But that doesn’t mean that the Hawks can’t have an impact on the race.
Zach Halverson tossed a six-hitter and had nine strikeouts to lead Ankeny to a 5-3 victory on Wednesday at third-ranked Waukee Northwest, which was hoping to move closer to the league title. Now, the Wolves’ lead over No. 5 Johnston and Valley has dwindled to one game.
“Zach put us on his back, and he really dialed it in late,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “Those last four innings might have been the best I’ve seen him throw as an Ankeny Hawk. He hit spot after spot, and that’s really encouraging for what we’re trying to do here at the end of the year.”
The loss ended a seven-game winning streak for Northwest, which had swept a doubleheader at Ankeny on June 9. The Wolves dropped to 14-7 in the conference and 25-8 overall.
Ankeny, meanwhile, extended its own winning streak to six games. The Hawks’ records are now 8-12 and 13-19.
“That’s a good team, but it wasn’t fluky at all,” Balvanz said. “The boys played really well.”
Northwest jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first two innings and had one of its top pitchers, Will Bowen, on the mound. Balvanz thought it might be a long night for the Hawks.
“With the way Bowen was throwing, that’s not a typical high school breaking ball. And he was maybe flirting with 90 (mph),” Balvanz said. “It would have been real easy for our guys to get frustrated, but they showed a lot of maturity and we had a lot of nice at-bats against him.”
Ankeny got on the board with a two-run single by Jackson Romig in the fourth inning. The Hawks took the lead with two runs in the fifth, then added another in the seventh.
Samuel Sandvig went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and scored a run. Kinnick Vos drove in a run, and Will Davies went 2-for-2 with a double and a walk.
RJ St. Romain added a pair of sacrifice bunts that helped keep the rallies going. Bowen allowed five earned runs on seven hits and had nine strikeouts over the first six innings.
“We’ve had some juniors really step up,” Balvanz said. “RJ got down two really nice bunts, and it’s not easy to bunt pitches at that high of a velocity.”
Once Ankeny got the lead, Halverson (1-3) took care of the rest. Balvanz had reliever Hunter Minner warmed up in the bullpen, but he never needed to make a change.
“We had Hunter ready to go, but Halvy was just a warrior out there and you don’t take the ball away from a warrior,” Balvanz said. “He just had a tremendous tempo going, and I’m tremendously proud of him. I always knew that he had a performance like that in him.”
The Hawks’ winning streak began on Saturday with a four-run rally in the seventh inning to beat No. 2 Cedar Rapids Prairie. They followed with another win over North Scott at the Brent Prange Classic, swept a doubleheader at Dowling Catholic on Monday and then defeated Southeast Polk on Tuesday.
“We’re having a good week,” Balvanz said. “It’s rewarding to see them have some success after we had some pretty tough times in May and June.”
Ankeny will close out the regular season next Wednesday with a make-up doubleheader at Johnston, but the games will only be played if they could have an impact on the conference race. The Hawks’ win over Northwest makes that possibility more likely.
“If we have to go over there, we will,” Balvanz said. “We already have a plan in place.”
Ankeny will host a non-conference game against Dallas Center-Grimes (20-8) on Thursday. It will be the Hawks’ Senior Night.
“Our lineup is going to look a little different,” Balvanz said. “We have 16 seniors, and if you’ve been giving up your summer to play high school baseball for four years, I’m going to take care of you.”
