A perfectly executed double steal with two outs in the top of the seventh inning allowed the Waukee Northwest baseball team to break a 2-2 tie and opened the door for a four-run outburst that gave the Wolves a 6-2 victory on Wednesday at Ankeny, spoiling the Hawks’ Senior Night and snapping their five-game winning streak.
Northwest prevented Ankeny from completing a sweep of the season series. The Wolves are now on a five-game winning streak of their own.
“We dropped a tough one, but I thought we were competitive the whole ballgame,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “We just didn’t have enough offense tonight.”
Ankeny took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but was unable to score again the rest of the way. Northwest’s Hayden Grisham allowed just four hits and had six strikeouts.
Easton Lowe went 2-for-3 with a triple and scored a run for the Hawks. Jack Romig and Ryan Wille each had an RBI.
The Wolves answered with a pair of runs in the third. They tied the game on an RBI double by Joe Vinyard.
Ankeny starter Brayden Kern pitched into the seventh inning before running into trouble. With runners on the corners and two outs, Northwest’s James Gilmore broke for home before Kern went into his windup, catching the Hawks off guard.
“You get a first and third situation there, and your lefthanded pitcher has his back turned (to the lead runner),” Balvanz said. “It was kind of a funny play, but it worked for them. We’ve got to let our pitcher know where to go with the baseball. He looked to first first, and that’s probably a natural reaction. We’ll learn from it and make sure that doesn’t happen in the postseason.”
An RBI single by Ryan Woodruff ended Kern’s night before the Wolves tacked on two more insurance runs. Kern (2-3) allowed four earned runs on eight hits over 6 2/3 innings and had four strikeouts.
“Brayden pitched well,” Balvanz said. “He didn’t walk anybody, and he only threw 71 pitches. You can’t ask for much more than that. I also thought we played pretty good defense minus a play or two here or there.”
Northwest improved to 11-9 in the CIML Conference and 21-11 overall. The Wolves are tied with Ankeny Centennial and 10th-ranked Valley for third place in the league.
“We got all the seniors in for some action,” said Balvanz, whose team’s records dropped to 5-15 and 11-24. “They’re a good group of kids. I know their record isn’t what they’d like it to be, but they work hard and do what I ask them to do.”
Ankeny will now have a few days off before hosting a conference doubleheader against Valley on Monday. The Tigers are 11-9 in the league and 19-14 overall.
