(Story by Dom Tornabane)
The Ankeny baseball team has likely played its final games on its dirt infield.
The Hawks closed out the regular season on Tuesday by splitting a make-up doubleheader against visiting Southeast Polk. They won the second game in walk-off fashion, 10-9, after dropping a 9-7 decision in the opener.
Kobe Behrens singled to drive in the winning run in the nightcap, which also featured a strong pitching performance from Norman Ha. Ha (2-4) got the victory with four innings of work, allowing three earned runs on six hits while recording five strikeouts.
“Norman is our shortstop, but he’s tremendously talented on the mound,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “That’s not easy to do, but he’s a skilled baseball player.”
Ha also went 3-for-4 at the plate and scored a run. Behrens went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs, while Ace Parton also had three RBIs.
Ryan Wille went 2-for-4 with a double and knocked in two runs. Quin Somers went 1-for-1 with three walks and scored three times.
Easton Lowe went 1-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored after going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI in the first game.
“Offensively, I thought we had some great at-bats from Wille, and Easton continues to swing a hot bat,” Balvanz said.
The school plans to install a turf field for next season, which means that Tuesday’s doubleheader was likely the last time that the Hawks will play on the dirt.
“I will miss the baseball field for sure,” Ha said.
Balvanz has coached every varsity game on the dirt infield and has put a major effort into the maintenance of the field, but is ready for the change after getting several pictures in memory of it.
“I took some time to enjoy it today,” Balvanz said. “It’s an exciting time to be an Ankeny Hawk.”
The first game was resumed in the first inning with Southeast Polk holding a 4-0 lead after play was suspended due to rain on June 4. Ankeny scored five runs in the bottom of the frame to take the lead, but the Rams answered with two runs in each of the next two innings and went on to snap a five-game losing skid.
Paxton Wylie (0-2) took the loss. He allowed four earned runs on four hits over 1 1/3 innings.
Gavin Nuzum provided some solid relief, allowing no earned runs on two hits over 4 2/3 innings while striking out four. But it wasn’t enough.
Jack Romig doubled and drove in two runs for the Hawks. Somers and Wille each went 1-for-3 and had an RBI.
Ankeny finished 7-17 in the CIML Conference and is now 13-26 overall. The Rams’ records are 11-13 and 21-17.
The Hawks will face Des Moines Roosevelt (22-16) in a Class 4A substate quarterfinal on Friday at Dowling Catholic at 7 p.m. The Roughriders were swept by Mason City to close out their season on Tuesday.
Ha is looking forward to the postseason.
“Keeping the approach simple, doing anything to help the team at this point,” Ha said. “You can’t be selfish thinking about your own performance now.”