The Ankeny baseball team allowed only 11 total hits during Thursday’s doubleheader at Waukee.
Unfortunately, the Hawks’ pitchers struggled to find the strike zone, giving up a combined 20 walks in the two games. The Warriors took advantage of the free passes to sweep Ankeny by scores of 7-4 and 9-1.
“We gave up too many free bases for sure,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “Our guys competed and they battled, but we’ve got to cut that down. That was a point of emphasis afterwards.”
The Hawks trailed by just 3-2 in the first game before Waukee scored a pair of runs in the fifth inning to extend its lead. After Ankeny answered with two runs in the sixth to pull within 5-4, the Warriors scored twice in the bottom of the frame to seal the win.
“That’s a very good team, but we hung with them at times,” Balvanz said. “We played them tough for 4 1/2 innings, but when you give up too many walks and you’re struggling to put up crooked numbers on offense, it’s tough.”
Waukee’s Hayden Anderson allowed just one earned run on three hits and had 12 strikeouts over the first five innings. Ryan Lengeling homered and had two RBIs for the Warriors.
Easton Lowe went 3-for-4 with a double and drove in two runs for the Hawks. Kobe Behrens tripled and had one RBI.
Logan Wildebour (0-2) took the loss, allowing three earned runs on five hits across five innings. He walked eight and had six strikeouts.
In the nightcap, Ankeny starter Ryan Buffington (0-2) had similar control issues, despite giving up just two hits and racking up six strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings. He walked seven and allowed four earned runs.
Max Wade knocked in the lone run for Ankeny, which was held to just three hits by Gavin Weinschenk. The Hawks dropped to 0-3 in the CIML Conference and 1-7 overall.
Lengeling and Pete Craig each had two RBIs for the Warriors, who improved their records to 3-0 and 8-1.
“We’ve got to get more productivity out of the offense, but the first lefty we saw was pretty tough–I think he’s going to Texas,” Balvanz said. “And the second lefty did a nice job too, working ahead in the count. I still see signs of progress. We just need to put a full seven innings together, and it’ll come.”
Ankeny will play a non-conference doubleheader at Bondurant-Farrar (3-2) on Friday.
