(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
A hot start to open things up and some late game heroics fueled the Ankeny Centennial baseball team in its doubleheader sweep at crosstown rival Ankeny on Wednesday.
The Jaguars started off strong and picked up a 7-3 victory in the opener before turning around and outlasting Ankeny in a pitchers’ duel for a 4-1 win in eight innings in the nightcap.
“(Logan) Wildebour threw really well in game one, (Ryan) Buffington was absolutely outstanding in game two, and this Ankeny team is a good ball club,” said Centennial coach Mark Hey. “We’re very happy that we got two wins. I’m very proud of our guys, they flushed (Monday’s loss to Southeast Polk) and came out and played their game.”
“I thought both games were well played,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “We just couldn’t quite muster up enough offense to get going, and that’s kind of been our story.”
Centennial set the tone early in the first inning of the rivalry doubleheader with the trio of Will Nesler, Trae Houser and Will Morris drawing three consecutive walks.
It opened up the door for sophomore Brekken Miller to crush his first of two triples in the game and drive in three of his four total RBIs to give the Jaguars a 3-0 lead.
“It was a great at-bat by Brekken and a great at-bat by those three guys ahead of him not chasing things out of the zone,” Hey said. “In baseball, when you get a lead early, it just relaxes you a bit as a hitter and you don’t feel the pressure. Game two was the exact opposite of that.”
The Jaguars were able to extend their lead in the fourth inning when Cade Newman singled and Owen Gasperi followed with an RBI triple. Nolan Powell added a run-scoring single to make it 5-1.
Alex Cory plated another run in the top of the fifth with an RBI grounder, and Miller later hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Ankeny was able to get an early response with Drake Allison hitting a standup triple in the second inning before Jack Romig brought him in with a single.
Kobe Behrens scored one of the Hawks’ most unique runs of the season in the fifth to help his team cut the deficit to 6-3.
Behrens followed up a Norman Ha double by hitting a deep drive over Newman in right field. While headed to third, a miscue on a throw back into the infield gave Behrens the green light to round third and race home for a two-run, inside-the-park homer.
“It was a great job by Kobe of picking up coach (Trey) Vinzant at third base to score that,” Balvanz said. “That happens sometimes. You get in those double cut situations and you sail a throw, it takes a funny hop and gets by the second cut there. Kobe just did a good job running with his head up like we asked.”
Trae Houser (2-0) earned the victory with a complete game effort on the mound. He allowed three earned runs on seven hits while recording six strikeouts.
Wildebour (1-4) took the loss against his former team. He allowed six earned runs on eight hits over the first five innings.
The two teams took the pitching to another level in the second game.
Buffington and Centennial’s Eli Starr combined for 21 strikeouts while allowing only two total runs over the first seven innings.
Ankeny’s lone run against Starr came in the second inning, when Romig hit a triple and was knocked in by Max Wade.
“(The pitching) was amazing and it saved our game,” said Cory. “Eli pitching eight innings is great, and we’re going to need that (performance) for the postseason.”
Miller tied things up for the Jaguars in the fourth inning.
A leadoff walk, a passed ball and a balk call put Miller on third with one out, and he ultimately scored on a wild pitch. Jacob Battershell advanced to third in the inning, but a strikeout by Buffington kept Centennial’s potential go-ahead runner stranded.
Buffington’s stellar night ended with one out in the seventh inning. His pitch count reached 112 when he struck out Gasperi on his final pitch.
It was the 12th strikeout for Buffington, who allowed just one unearned run on two hits over 6 1/3 innings.
“(Buffington) has been like that and kind of barely missing, but man when his stuff is over the plate, he’s phenomenal,” Balvanz said. “He had his slider going really well tonight, that two seamer is hard to handle, and as a lefty from kind of an awkward arm slot, he did a great job tonight and made for some uncomfortable at-bats.”
Ethan Poock (1-1) got the Hawks out of the inning before things swayed in Centennial’s favor going into extra innings.
The Jaguars got a couple of big plays to keep them in it, which included a diving stop from Nesler at short on an Easton Lowe line drive to keep Behrens stuck at second base.
Nesler proceeded to hit a single to lead off the eighth inning, and a throwing error on a Houser bunt put them in a spot to take the lead.
Cory drove in both runners with a single before finding himself on third following another throwing error.
Newman gave Centennial a three-run cushion with an RBI single.
“The at-bats before I was struggling with the lefty on the mound, but I just had to stick to my approach and look for something to hit,” Cory said. “You just can’t get down on yourself and start changing your swing. You’ve just got to go play ball.”
Starr (3-2) closed his night out with his ninth strikeout to secure the doubleheader sweep. He scattered nine hits and allowed just one walk while throwing 115 pitches.
The Jaguars improved to 9-9 in the CIML Conference and 15-12 overall. They will travel to Waukee Northwest on Thursday for another conference game against the 10th-ranked Wolves, who swept Centennial on June 5 and are now 8-8 in the league and 16-10 overall.
“We’ve just got to keep hitting the ball,” Cory said. “We faced a great pitcher, but we’ve been hitting really well. Our pitchers just got to go up there, be confident and we just got to play our ball and not worry about who we’re playing.”
Ankeny’s records fell to 2-13 and 6-22. The Hawks’ losing streak was extended to nine games, but Balvanz continues to see some progress from his squad.
“I know the record doesn’t look great, but those are some tremendous young men out there, they work hard and they do as I ask,” Balvanz said. “The game can be humbling at times and it can be brutal on the mindset, but I’m proud of them. They come to work every single day with the right mindset, we just haven’t found the win column a whole lot.”
Ankeny will travel to Southeast Polk on Thursday for a conference game against the Rams, who are 8-7 in the league and 18-9 overall.
