(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
The Ankeny baseball team got off to a blazing start in its Wednesday doubleheader against visiting Johnston.
But the Hawks struggled to match that hot start over the next 13 innings.
Ankeny allowed 10 unanswered runs in an 11-5 loss in the first game before falling behind and dropping a 7-3 contest in the nightcap.
“They’re young, they’re learning, and I told them that you have to stack good days on good days,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “Sometimes bad things happen, and all you can do the next day is go get back to work and try to get things a little bit better than they were the day before.”
The Hawks couldn’t have asked for a much better bottom half of the first inning in the opener.
Quin Somers led off with a single and Easton Lowe immediately followed with a double that put Somers in a spot to score Ankeny’s first run of the game on a balk.
Ace Parton delivered an RBI single to make it 2-1 before Ryan Wille crushed a two-run double and Austin Hans hit an RBI single that gave Ankeny a 5-1 lead.
The Hawks had six hits in the outburst.
“Anytime you come out and score five in the first inning you’re excited,” Balvanz said. “To get five (runs) and then to not get anymore in that game was a little bit of a disappointment. We’ve got to stay consistent in our approach.”
Johnston answered with two runs in the third to cut its deficit to 5-3. The Dragons then erupted for six runs in the fifth to take the lead, capitalizing on some timely hitting with some Ankeny pitching miscues and fielding errors.
Former Hawk Will Davies got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in a run. Back-to-back errors by the Hawks then allowed Johnston to take a 6-5 lead.
The margin grew to 9-5 after Max Mincks hit a two-run double and Ahvyance Taylor recorded a sacrifice fly.
Davies came back in the sixth inning to hit an RBI triple down the first-base line and was followed by an RBI double from Henry Clevenger.
“I think very highly of Will,” Balvanz said. “He played for us his freshman through junior years, and he was a big part of what we were doing here. He’s a great player, and I wish him all the best as he continues on to Iowa Central up in Fort Dodge.”
Kyle Clevidence (1-2) took the loss. He allowed four earned runs on five hits over the first 4 1/3 innings.
The Hawks attempted to bounce back in the nightcap with Lowe giving them a big momentum boost early on.
Lowe made use of some strong wind gusts to hit a solo homer over the right-field fence. His first homer of the season gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
The Dragons then tied the game in the second when Taylor scored on another Ankeny error.
“Both games tonight, our defense has to improve,” Balvanz said. “Some big errors in some big spots on some routine balls that in this league just can not happen.”
Taylor came back up in the top of the third with the bases loaded and cleared them with a triple. He then raced home on a wild pitch to give Johnston a 5-1 advantage.
Parton was able to plate another run for Ankeny in the bottom of the third on a grounder, but the Dragons made it up in the fifth off an error and an RBI grounder of their own to make it 7-2.
Ankeny attempted a late rally with Parton drawing a two-out walk with the bases loaded in the seventh before a strikeout ended its night.
Ryan Buffington (0-3) suffered the loss for the Hawks, despite racking up seven strikeouts in the first 4 1/3 innings. He gave up five earned runs on five hits.
“I see signs of life out of the offense and when we were on that little win streak when we won five of six, we were playing tremendous routine defense and taking care of the baseball and we just haven’t done that,” Balvanz said. “You have to be able to play all three facets of the game especially in (the CIML) or things won’t go your way unfortunately.”
The Dragons completed a sweep of the season series. They improved to 8-6 in the CIML Conference and 10-9 overall, while Ankeny’s records dropped to 2-9 and 6-16.
The Hawks will host a conference game against seventh-ranked Waukee on Thursday. The Warriors (9-4, 15-6) are tied for the league lead with No. 6 Urbandale after splitting with Ankeny Centennial on Wednesday.
“If my math is correct we still have 17 more games to play in the regular season, and there’s a lot of work to do before we hit the postseason,” Balvanz said. “There’s some good pieces here, we just haven’t put them together consistently.”
