The Ankeny Centennial baseball team used a seven-run third inning to roll to a 10-1 victory at Valley on Thursday.
The Jaguars’ outburst knocked out Valley starter and Nebraska recruit Colton Roemmich, who allowed five runs–three of them earned–on three hits in two-plus innings.
“As a team we had some real quality at-bats against Roemmich, who is an outstanding pitcher,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey. “We continued to have good at-bats against their bullpen. Trae Houser really exemplified the way the team battled when he had an outstanding at-bat against Roemmich where he saw 11 strikes in the at-bat and kept fouling them off until he finally singled.”
Houser went 2-for-5 in the win. He scored a run and drove in another.
Owen Gasperi doubled and had two RBIs for the Jaguars. Alex Cory also knocked in two runs, while Jacob Battershell and Nolan Powell each had one RBI.
Centennial had just six hits off five Valley pitchers, but capitalized on seven walks, three hit by pitches and two errors on the Tigers. Winning pitcher Brekken Miller went 2-for-3 with a walk.
Miller (2-2) allowed just one unearned run on two hits over the first five innings. He walked three and recorded eight strikeouts.
Houser then closed out the win, striking out four of the six batters that he retired.
“Brekken had an outstanding performance on the mound,” Hey said. “Trae also threw exceptionally well for two innings of relief.”
The win improved the Jaguars to 6-5 in the CIML Conference and 10-6 overall. Valley’s records dropped to 6-4 and 10-7.
The top five teams in the league are now separated by just 1.5 games. Waukee leads the way at 7-3, Urbandale (5-3) is a game back along with Valley, and Johnston (6-5) is tied with Centennial for fourth.
The Jaguars will travel to Urbandale on Monday for a conference game against the J-Hawks (14-5).
