Survive and advance.
That’s all that mattered for the Ankeny Christian Academy baseball team on Tuesday night.
The Eagles survived a late rally by visiting Madrid and held on for an 8-7 victory in a Class 1A district semifinal at North Polk Middle School. The Tigers rallied for three runs in the seventh inning before Kolbie Owens popped out in foul territory to ACA catcher Andrew Mora to end the game, leaving the potential tying run stranded at second base.
Madrid (11-18) left 12 runners on base overall.
“We’ll take any win we can get,” said ACA reliever Lucas Erickson, who came in to get the final three outs. “I knew the umpire was having a smaller (strike) zone today, but I was confident that I could get them to roll over. I felt like my pitches were working when I was warming up, so I was confident.”
It was the eighth straight win for ACA (27-5), which advanced to Saturday’s district final against AGWSR (14-12). The Eagles won despite committing five errors and allowing 11 walks.
Tuesday’s game was a rematch of a district semifinal from two years ago, which was also won by ACA, 5-3.
“Madrid is really well coached and has got some real talent,” said ACA coach Konrad Christensen. “They’re really young, and we might be playing them (again) next year. I like how they play ball. We were prepared for them, but you saw it we got the lead and relaxed a little bit.”
Brody Butler went 2-for-4 with a double and four RBIs to lead the Eagles. Lucas Herbel went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs, including what proved to be the game-winner.
Both Butler and Herbel sat out Monday’s district quarterfinal against Mormon Trail.
“We were dealing with some internal things and gave some other guys a chance to play, but it was nice to have them back tonight,” Christensen said. “Herbel showed off his speed, and Brody had a couple of big hits.”
Tyler Davis went 2-for-3 with a walk, scored three runs and knocked in another. He also had three of the team’s eight stolen bases.
Davis hit a leadoff single in the fourth inning, stole second with one out and moved to third on a passed ball with two outs. Herbel then slapped an RBI single up the middle to give the Eagles an 8-3 lead.
That was the only run that ACA managed against Madrid reliever Conner Pettiecord, but it proved to be the difference. Pettiecord took over with one out in the second inning after the Eagles roughed up starter Emerson Bridgewater for seven runs.
“I thought we had a great approach coming out tonight,” Butler said. “We were definitely hot with our hitting as a team. We did a good job of being aggressive on the basepaths too, and I feel like that hot start helped carry us throughout the game.”
Landon Curtis (7-1) earned the win on the mound, allowing three unearned runs on three hits and six walks over the first 3 1/3 innings. Davis allowed two earned runs on one hit and four walks over the next 2 2/3 innings.
“We were hoping to keep Curtis under 90 (pitches),” Christensen said of his senior, who left after throwing 72. “But it was hot and a tough zone, and that’s a feisty bunch over there. We’ve just got to throw more strikes. The umpire’s zone was a little tight, but we’ve got to work on that.”
Curtis hit a one-out double in the first inning to ignite ACA’s offense against Bridgewater, who entered the game with a 1.44 ERA. After Davis walked, Butler followed with a two-run double into the left-field corner.
With two outs, Butler raced home from third when Herbel beat out a dribbler in front of the plate for an infield single.
“We knew what (Bridgewater) was coming with–fastball, curveball,” Butler said. “We were just trying to adjust and know what we’re getting. We knew he’d be pumping the zone, so we just had to be ready to hit.”
Madrid answered with three runs in the top of the second to tie it–all of them unearned. Bridgewater capped the rally with a two-run single to center.
“We didn’t defend like we should defend,” Christensen said of the error that opened the door for Madrid’s rally. “It was not necessarily ACA baseball, but you saw some of our speed and all three of our pitchers and we needed every one of them.”
Tyson Fincham put ACA ahead for good in the bottom of the frame. He led off with a single and stole second, then came home on a throwing error when he tried to steal third.
Davis later hit an RBI single and Butler followed with a two-run single to make it 7-3. After Conner Crosby walked, Bridgewater left the mound after getting just four outs.
“We prepared for Bridgewater,” Christensen said. “But we had a lot of trouble with the guy not throwing as hard (in Pettiecord).”
Bridgewater had four of Madrid’s five hits, going 4-for-4 with an intentional walk. He singled in the sixth inning and later scored on a grounder to cut ACA’s lead to 8-4.
After Davis walked the first two batters in the seventh, Christensen summoned Erickson to the mound. The Tigers scored one run on a wild pitch, then Bridgewater hit a two-run double to deep right-center field with two outs to pull the Tigers within 8-7.
“If we had still been playing at Urbandale like last year, it probably would have been (a home run), but I thought Herb had hit in center,” Erickson said. “And then I saw he didn’t have it, but I didn’t think it was going to get out.”
Erickson then retired Owens on the popup to close it out.
AGWSR advanced to the district final with a 6-5 victory at Fort Dodge St. Edmond. The Cougars also survived a late rally as St. Edmond scored all five of its runs in the bottom of the seventh.
“We definitely can go even farther,” Erickson said. “If we can just clean up our fielding a little bit–we all had a few errors today–I think this game is not as close as it seemed. I think we can beat any team in our bracket.”
Butler also expects a better performance from the Eagles in the field.
“We just had a few defensive errors,” he said. “It was not our normal baseball, but I feel like the next game we’re going to come back stronger and be ready for that.”
