The Ankeny Centennial baseball team entered Friday’s doubleheader against visiting Waukee Northwest on a four-game winning streak and was one of five squads within a game of first place in the CIML Conference.
Unfortunately, the Jaguars never held a lead while dropping both games of the twinbill. Northwest rolled to an 8-2 win in the opener and then held on for a 9-7 victory in the nightcap.
The Wolves improved to 5-2 in the conference and 10-3 overall, moving into a first-place tie with Urbandale. Centennial’s records dropped to 4-4 and 8-5.
“Northwest is a really good team, and they played really well,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey.
In the second game, Northwest scored six runs in the fourth inning to build a 9-2 lead. The Jaguars rallied for three runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh before the comeback fell short.
Jacob Battershell went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs in the loss. Will Nesler also drove in two runs, while Alex Cory went 2-for-4 and had one RBI.
Will Morris went 2-for-3 and scored a run. Trae Houser doubled and knocked in a run.
“I was proud of our guys,” Hey said. “They battled from behind all day and never gave up. We hit the ball well and played excellent defense.”
Eli Starr (1-2) took the loss, allowing eight earned runs on eight hits over 3 2/3 innings. He walked three and had nine strikeouts before Owen Gasperi and Garrett Stevens came in and combined for 3 1/3 hitless innings of relief.
Northwest’s Nathan Reinholdt went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. Dillon Choos went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs.
In the first game, Joe Vinyard led the way for the Wolves by going 3-for-5 with two doubles and five RBIs. James Gilmore drove in two runs, while Carter Holcomb went 3-for-4 with a double and one RBI.
Chuck Berdovich scattered seven hits and three walks over five scoreless innings to earn the victory. He had six strikeouts.
Brekken Miller (1-2) took the loss, allowing five earned runs on six hits over the first three innings. He walked five and had four strikeouts.
Miller had a big game at the plate for the Jaguars. He went 3-for-3 with a triple and scored a run.
Starr went 2-for-4 and had one RBI. Battershell also knocked in a run.
Nesler went 2-for-3 with a triple. He also scored a run.
Owen Lorenz was another bright spot for Centennial. He tossed three scoreless innings of relief.
The Jaguars will play a conference doubleheader on Monday at Dowling Catholic. The Maroons are 1-4 in the league and 2-7 overall.