The Ankeny baseball team earned its second win of the season on Saturday in dramatic fashion.
The Hawks held previously unbeaten Indianola scoreless over the final 12 innings and rallied to beat the host Indians, 9-3, in a 16-inning marathon. Indianola (11-1) had defeated Ankeny, 8-4, in a Class 4A substate quarterfinal last year.
“I don’t think I’ve ever coached a baseball game that went 16 innings,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz, whose team later dropped a 15-8 decision to Carlisle at Simpson College. “The boys played really well in all facets of the game. We had a couple of baserunning hiccups, but we had some timely hitting and the guys just competed their tails off on the mound and we played really good defense behind them.
“This was one of those games that as our guys get older they’ll probably talk about for a long time,” he added.
Indianola held a 3-0 lead before Ankeny scored a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh to force extra innings. Both teams then went scoreless for the next eight innings before the Hawks erupted for six runs in the top of the 16th.
Ankeny pitchers Brayden Kern, Jackson Molloy and Logan Wildebour combined on a 10-hitter in the win. They also racked up 10 strikeouts.
Kern allowed three earned runs on six hits over the first seven innings before turning things over to Molloy, who threw 99 pitches in relief–just one fewer than Kern. Molloy allowed four hits over 6 1/3 scoreless innings.
Wildebour (1-3) then tossed 2 2/3 hitless innings to earn the victory. He walked two and had two strikeouts.
“I think we wiggled out of first and third twice in extra innings and they didn’t score, and they had the bases loaded with no outs once and didn’t score,” Balvanz said. “I saw a lot of encouraging things in that marathon of a baseball game.”
The Hawks pounded out 18 hits off four Indianola pitchers. Kyle Clevidence led the way, going 5-for-8 with a pair of runs scored.
“Kyle has been playing at a high level,” Balvanz said. “He does a good job at third base, and he’s been putting together quality at bats just about every time he goes up there.”
Drake Allison went 3-for-7 and drove in three runs. He caught all 16 innings behind the plate.
“He was pretty gassed afterwards,” Balvanz said.
Quin Somers went 2-for-5 and also had three RBIs. Ace Parton went 3-for-8 and knocked in a run.
Easton Lowe went 2-for-6 and had one RBI. Ryan Wille also drove in a run.
Ankeny (2-13) then jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning against Carlisle before the Wildcats (8-2) used an eight-run second to take the lead for good. They later used a four-run sixth to extend the margin to 14-5.
Leadoff hitter Trevor Shepard went 2-for-4 with two doubles and five RBIs. Isaac Burk tripled and drove in two runs.
“The guys were all fired up after (beating Indianola),” Balvanz said. “I didn’t want them to lose their momentum, but it was pretty evident by the second or third inning that we had some tired bodies out there and we needed to make some substitutions quickly.”
Paxton Wylie (0-1), the first of five Ankeny pitchers, took the loss. He allowed eight earned runs on six hits over the first 1 2/3 innings.
Ryan Buffington went 2-for-2 with a triple and three RBIs for the Hawks. Norman Ha drove in two runs, while Cal Van Houten went 2-for-4 and scored a run.
“Ha played shortstop for 23 innings, and Parton played all day,” Balvanz said. “Ace DH’d in game two, but that’s a lot of at bats in one day. I was proud of their toughness and resiliency, and I really thought they all played together as a group. I was also really proud of the reserves for the way they came in and battled.”
Ankeny will travel to Waukee Northwest on Monday for a CIML Conference doubleheader against the Wolves, who are 10-3 overall and tied for the league lead with Urbandale at 5-2.