March 19, 2024

Area Roundup: PCM baseball wins big in opener

The Prairie City-Monroe baseball team may have lost a talented senior class that fell one game shy of state last season, but it got its 2013 season off to a strong start Tuesday night.

The Mustangs scored four runs in the first inning, two in the fourth and three in the sixth to top East Marshall 9-1 in Prairie City.

Alex DeWitte, one of just four returning Mustang seniors, picked up from where he left off last season by picking up the victory. DeWitte pitched four shutout innings and gave up just three hits against eight strikeouts. Freshman Austin Brown took PCM the rest of the way, giving up one run in three innings of work with four strikeouts to earn the save.

Senior Ethan Kain led PCM offensively, going 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a stolen base. Also recording RBIs for PCM were DeWitte, freshman Clay Cooper, senior Nate Vande Wall and junior Zach Uhlenhopp. Overall, the Mustangs recorded eight hits and had eight different players score runs.

PCM will be back in action at Norwalk on Thursday.

Tigerhawks' comeback falls short in opener

The Colfax-Mingo baseball team opened its season on a chilly Monday night in Gilbert, and it didn't quite go the way it had planned.

The first six inning were a struggle, but the Tigerhawks managed to score three runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game. However, the Tigers walked off with the victory in the bottom half of the inning to start their season 1-0.

On the hill for Colfax-Mingo was senior Jake Alexander. Alexander battled through seven gritty innings. He gave up seven runs on eight hits, but his defense let him down as only two of the runs he gave up were earned. Alexander also walked two and struck out eight batters.

The offensive star for the Tigerhawks was senior left fielder Chad McLain. McLain had two hits in four at-bats — a double and a home run — and drove in three of the six runs for the Tigerhawks. He also stole a base. McLain led the team in hits, homers and RBI last season, and he is off to yet another hot start following his successful run as a state-level track athlete.

State Class 2A long jump champion Connor Hainer led off and started at shortstop. Hainer went 1-for-4 with a run scored. He led the team in runs scored and stolen bases last season, swiping 57 bags on the year in 59 attempts.

Senior first baseman Trent Pease picked up an RBI double in four at-bats. The final RBI came from catcher Austin Yoakum.

The Tigerhawks return a seasoned, experienced squad for this season, and their lineup showed that off last night as they started nine seniors including Alexander on the mound. With such experience, the Tigerhawks have plenty of reasons to expect an improvement on their 16-16 mark from last season.

“We are way ahead of where we were last season,” Tigerhawks coach Steve Glenn said. “We have some new bodies that need to get acclimated to baseball again, but they are shaping up quickly. We have the personnel to be very competitive each and every night. Our resiliency in that seventh inning was great.  We just kept extending the inning, but couldn’t get over the hump.”

The Tigerhawks will try to get that first victory of the season when they take the field against North Polf on Thursday.

CMB softball falls in season opener

The Collins-Maxwell-Baxter softball team’s season got off to a slow start Tuesday, as the Raiders fell 2-0 to Grandview Park Baptist in Collins.

The Raiders offer a mix of experience and youth this season, and return last season’s pitching workhorse and college softball-bound senior Cheyanne Warne. All in all, the Raiders sport four seniors, two juniors and the rest underclassmen.

CMB will spend plenty of time at home in the next few games, hosting Roland-Story tonight and Oskaloosa in a doubleheader Thursday.

Colfax-Mingo softball shuts out Eddyville

The lady Tigerhawks of Colfax-Mingo took home a 2-0 victory in their opener with Eddyville-Blakesburg on Tuesday night. Pitcher Amy Russell picked up the victory with a strong complete-game effort. She picked up six strikeouts and delivered first-pitch strikes to 13 of the batters she faced.

Offensively, a trio of Tigerhawks picked up two hits a-piece. Sydnie Fahrney, Russell and Erin Earles each went 2-for-3 in their at-bats on the night. The lone RBI in the game came off the bat of Earles. Jenna Teed also contributed to the offense with a walk and two quality at-bats.

The next game for the Tigerhawks will be on Thursday in their road opener at Grandview Park Baptist.