It’s been a rough start to the season for the Ankeny baseball team.
The Hawks were hoping to turn things around on Friday at Bondurant-Farrar, but the Bluejays rallied to win both games of a non-conference doubleheader by scores of 4-3 and 2-1.
“Those were two tough losses,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz, whose team dropped to 1-9. “But tip your hat to Bondurant. They played well, and they’re well coached. They play the game the right way.”
Ankeny held a 1-0 lead in the nightcap behind sophomore Norman Ha (0-2), who took a no-hitter into the bottom of the seventh inning. But a single by Drake Pfaltzgraff opened the door for the Bluejays (5-2) to rally.
“Norman was really sharp, but he just kind of ran out of gas there at the end,” Balvanz said.
Ha departed with one out after throwing 84 pitches. He was relieved by Paxton Wylie, who gave up a walk and then a grounder that allowed the winning run to score.
Drake Allison went 2-for-3 with a triple in the loss. The Hawks had just four hits off Ayden Ledvina, who racked up nine strikeouts.
In the first game, Ankeny built a 3-0 lead before Bondurant-Farrar tied it with three runs in the fourth. The Bluejays then scored the go-ahead run in the sixth.
Kyle Clevidence (0-1) took the loss in relief of Brayden Kern. He allowed just one unearned run over the final 2 2/3 innings.
Easton Lowe went 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs. Ryan Wille also went 2-for-4, Max Wade had a double, and Allison drove in a run.
“The guys are trying hard,” Balvanz said. “But offensively, we’ve got to do a better job of getting more guys on base and having a better approach at the plate. We’re just having too many strikeouts and too many popups.
“We had an opportunity to extend the lead in that first game and just couldn’t do it. When you have guys on third base with less than two outs, you’ve got to drive them in and we’re just not doing that right now,” he added.
Ankeny will travel across town on Monday for a CIML Conference game at Ankeny Centennial (5-3).