The Ankeny baseball team could be a dangerous opponent in the postseason, especially when junior pitcher Hunter Minner is on top of his game.
Minner likely made his final full start of the regular season on Tuesday, when he nearly tossed a complete game as the Hawks posted a 6-1 victory at Dowling Catholic to complete a sweep of the season series. The Indiana State recruit (3-6) allowed just one earned run on five hits over 6 2/3 innings and racked up nine strikeouts.
“Hunter continues to get better and better,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “He was really fun to sequence tonight. He had a little trouble finding all of his pitches early, but he really was pretty sharp from the second inning on and the first inning wasn’t bad at all. He got stronger, and he probably should have finished that game. He just walked a kid there at the end, but it was a very good performance.”
Ethan Poock came in and got the final out to preserve the win, Ankeny’s fifth in a row and its third over Dowling in the last two days. The Hawks had swept a doubleheader on Monday by scores of 11-6 and 15-6.
Ankeny improved to 5-14 in the CIML Conference and 11-23 overall. It was the eighth consecutive loss for the Maroons, whose records dropped to 3-16 and 7-22.
“It was just a really good team win,” Balvanz said. “We played excellent team defense, and it was another game where we had double digit hits and some really clutch hits with two outs.”
Ryan Wille went 3-for-4 with a double and scored two runs. He leads the team with seven doubles.
“Wille had a nine-pitch at-bat where he kept fouling off some pitches and then smoked one down the line,” Balvanz said.
Kyle Clevidence went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs. Norman Ha went 2-for-3 with a double and also had two RBIs.
Quin Somers went 2-for-4 with a double and scored twice. Max Wade and Kobe Behrens each knocked in a run.
Ankeny’s No. 4 through 7 hitters combined to go 10-of-15 on the night.
“That was really encouraging to see,” Balvanz said.
The Hawks will host a conference game on Wednesday against Waukee Northwest. It will be their Senior Night.
The Wolves are 10-9 in the league and 20-11 overall. They are riding a four-game winning streak.
Ankeny swept a doubleheader at Northwest on June 8.