(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
The Ankeny Centennial baseball team watched the Dowling Catholic dugout pour onto the field after the Maroons ended the first game of Monday’s doubleheader with a walk-off single.
The Jaguars simply left that game in the rear view and focused on getting the win back in the second matchup.
A five-RBI night for Brekken Miller, homers from Miller and Cade Newman, and a complete game tossed by Connor Williams helped Centennial rebound from its 5-4 loss to salvage a road split with a 10-1 victory.
“We talked between games about how you just have to be mentally tough, you can’t feel sorry for yourself, and you just have to be ready to go play game two,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey. “We came out and scored four runs off the bat, so just really proud of how we played.”
Centennial set the tone early in the nightcap as the Jaguars put their first three batters of the game on base.
Will Nesler made it all the way to third on an error in the outfield, Trae Houser got hit by a pitch, and Will Morris drew a walk to line up Alex Cory for a sacrifice fly to take an early 1-0 lead.
Miller broke the inning open with one crack of the bat as the sophomore slugger hit a three-run homer to left field. It was Miller’s and the team’s first home run of the season and extended the margin to 4-0.
“We probably lead the state in guys that hit ropes that get caught,” Hey said. “Brekken, every at bat he had tonight just about, hit the ball hard. He’s a great ball player, he hit a line drive that carried and just a great at bat out of him.”
Dowling loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the third, but Williams limited the Maroons to a single run off a sacrifice fly.
The Jaguars immediately got that run back in the top of the fourth with Miller hitting a sacrifice fly of his own to make it 5-1.
Centennial went on a two-out rally in the sixth that saw Jacob Battershell drill an RBI single to score Newman and Nesler beat out a throw on a bases-loaded grounder to short to make it 7-1.
The icing on the cake for the Jaguars came in the top of the seventh when Miller hit a single to drive in his fifth run of the game right before Newman blasted a ball over the center field fence for a two-run homer to produce the final margin.
“(Newman) is a great, big, strong kid and has great power,” Hey said of his junior. “He got a 3-0 fastball and he just deposited it. It was really nice to see him do that because he’s been hitting really, really well, but a lot of have been line drives. It was good to see him get under it.”
While Dowling used five different pitchers in the game, Centennial never had to go to its bullpen. Williams got the start for the Jaguars and went the distance to pick up the win.
Williams (3-0) allowed one earned run on four hits, walked three and had six strikeouts. He now boasts a 0.86 ERA.
Centennial put Williams on the bump to start the second game and the junior pitcher went the distance for them.
“(Williams) is one of our top pitchers and so far this year the situations we’ve put him in he’s come out of the bullpen,” Hey said. “He got a start tonight, he did a great job, and we had total confidence that he would. He threw how we expected him to throw, and that’s the kind of pitcher he is.”
The victory snapped Centennial’s three-game losing skid while ending the Maroons’ four-game winning streak. The Jaguars are now 5-5 in the CIML Conference and 9-6 overall, while Dowling’s records are 2-5 and 5-8.
Centennial was hoping to get a sweep, but a late rally helped the Maroons take the first game.
The Jaguars held a 3-2 lead before Dowling rallied in the sixth against Morris (1-1), who replaced starter Jack Loutsch to begin the inning and gave up three straight walks to load the bases. Joey Nahas then delivered a two-run single to put the Maroons ahead, 4-3.
Centennial tied it back up in the top of the seventh when Owen Gasperi entered as a pinch-hitter with runners on the corners and hit an RBI double just inside the third-base line.
In the bottom of the inning, Dowling got runners to second and third on a passed ball before Truman Sanders singled to walk it off.
“Obviously, game one was disappointing because you never like to lose but I thought we battled well,” Hey said. “Dowling just played a really, really good game and got some good pitching. I’m just super proud of the way they bounced back game two.”
Nesler went 4-for-5 with a triple in the loss. He drove in a pair of runs.
The Jaguars will travel to Pleasant Valley on Wednesday for a non-conference doubleheader against the Spartans (11-2) before hosing a twinbill against CIML leader Valley on Thursday.
“It’s just going to be a battle,” Hey said. “But that’s the schedule we have, it’s the schedule we want, and we’re going to come out (against Pleasant Valley) ready to go.”
