Hawks fall in extra innings
|
|
SULLY —The plot was set for a great Lynnville-Sully baseball win.
Down 5-2 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, the Hawks tied the ballgame on a Dallas Bryan 3-run home run. But entering extra innings, Tri-County took advantage of base runners in the ninth inning to come away with a 7-5 victory Friday night.
“We made tons of plays in the field to keep us in the ballgame, and a late inning rally, but five runs in nine innings isn’t going to win many games in our conference,” L-S coach Nick Harder said. “When you wait four innings to get the offense going at all, you’re going to be looking up from the bottom every time.”
The Hawks scored just one run in the first four innings, and that came in the first inning. Josh Van Wyk led off with a walk and two batters later, Kenton Dunsbergen came through with a double to plate Van Wyk for a 1-0 lead.
Tri-County went on to score four unanswered runs. The Trojans tied the game in the third inning when Daniel Gregg reached on a single and scored on a steal at home plate.
In the fourth inning, Andy Thomas led off with a double and Jacob Edmundson bunted for a single to put runners on the corners. Thomas eventually scored on a passed ball and Edmundson came around on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.
The lead moved to 4-1 when a two-out error scored Daniel Gregg, but the Hawks started to make a rally.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Zach Stafford led off with a double and a single by Nick Beyer put runners on the corners. A balk by Thomas on the mound allowed Stafford to score to make it 4-2.
After Tri-County pushed the lead out to three runs on an RBI single by Edmundson in the top of the seventh inning, the Hawks had three outs to work with. Nick Beyer started it off with a single, but after back-to-back strikeouts, Van Wyk came through with a single.
Dallas Bryan than hit a 3-run home run on a 3-2 count to tie the game up, sending it to extra innings.
“They could have hung their heads when it was 5-2 and walked off the field in the seventh inning,” Harder said. “They just kept pushing and pushing to try and get that extra run and got the big hit from Dallas. That’s the first of his career here — it’s kind of nice to see something like that.”
In the eighth inning,
Tri-County left a runner on third base and the Hawks had three batters and three outs.
The Trojans took the lead for good in the ninth inning. With two outs, Edmundson got on base with a single. A single by Colt Brumbaugh followed by an error on the play allowed Edmundson to score, giving the Trojans the lead.
A passed ball later in the inning allowed Brumbaugh to score to make it 7-5.
In the bottom half of the inning, Lynnville-Sully tried to make a rally once again. With one out, Bryce Doane got on with a double. With two outs, Van Wyk and Bryan both walked, but a ground out ended the game as the Hawks left them loaded.
“ Some of those hits we got early in the year when we had those situations, and we’re not getting them right now,” Harder said after his team ended the second consecutive loss with bases loaded. “Early in the game, we’re not getting ourselves that many opportunities.”
The Hawks were outhit 14-8 and five more errors than Tri-County, but the Trojans left 10 on base for the game that lasted two hours and 45 minutes.
Dan Zegers pitched the first 5 1/3 innings, throwing 71 pitches. He was on a 90-pitch limit, coming into his second start since a motorcycle accident more than two months ago.
“Every week he is getting a little stronger and coming back a little bit more,” Harder said.
Edmundson led Tri-County offensively by going 4-for-5 with one RBI and a double. Dunsbergen and Beyer each had two hits for the Hawks.
Lynnville-Sully (6-8, 6-5 SICL) is back in action tonight at Iowa Valley. The Hawks are trying to end a four-game losing streak.
Harder has been changing the lineup and moving people around, and that may continue to change in the coming games.
“We were hitting the ball so well that everything worked for a few games and now we have some hiccups,” Harder said. “Someone is seeing the ball well one night and not seeing it the next night. We have about two weeks to figure it out.”
Tri-County 7,
Lynnville-Sully 5 (9)
R H E
T-C 001 300 102 7 14 1
L-S 100 100 300 5 8 6
T-C: Andy Thomas 10K 2BB 1HBP, Colt Brumbaugh 0K 2BB (9) and Isaac Stewart. L-S: Dan Zegers 1K 0BB, Zach Stafford 3K 1BB (6) and Jesse Holder. W — Thomas. L — Stafford. HR — L-S: Dallas Bryan. 3B — T-C: Thomas. 2B: T-C: Thomas, Jacob Edmundson. L-S: Kenton Dunsbergen, Stafford, Bryce Doane. Multiple hitters — T-C: Edmundson 4, Thomas 3, Daniel Gregg 3, Colton Molyneux 2. L-S: Dunsbergen 2, Nick Beyer 2. RBI — T-C: Edmundson 1, Brumbaugh 1. L-S: Bryan 3, Dunsbegen 1.
