March 18, 2024

Newton registers split with Indians

OSKALOOSA — The Newton baseball team earned a two-game split with Oskaloosa during Little Hawkeye Conference play on Monday.

The Cardinals let leads of 6-2 and 7-5 slip away but a two-hitter on the mound by Tyler Wood in the nightcap led the Cardinals to a 3-0 win after losing the opener 8-7.

“I am glad we came back and got a win in the second game, but it would have been nice to return with a sweep,” Newton coach Dustin Brisel said. “We’ll take it though.”

Wood threw his best game of the season in game two. He surrendered just two hits and walked three while striking out five. The Cardinals led 1-0 after six innings but added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh following back-to-back doubles by Duncan Lee and Jeff Stanton.

“That was the best he has looked all year by far,” Brisel said of Wood’s pitching performance. “Everything was working tonight. He hit his spots and threw very well.”

The Cardinals managed only four hits of their own in the game two win. Stanton led the way with a hit, a run and two walks. Lee had a hit, a run and an RBI, while Michael Barr had one hit and two walks. Drew Stout also had a hit and scored a run.

An RBI double by Stanton and an RBI single by Wood gave the Cardinals (8-4) a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the opener, but Oskaloosa rallied to even the score in the second.

It remained tied until the fifth inning when Newton plated four runs. Stanton came through with an RBI single to begin the scoring and Barr and Connor Gholson also had RBI fielder’s choices in the frame.

Oskaloosa got within 6-5 with a three-run sixth, but Newton tacked on one run in the seventh to make it 7-5. In that inning, Jordan Travis drove in Wood with an RBI fielder’s choice.

The Indians though stayed hot at the plate and scored three more times in the final half of the seventh. Mitchell Shaffner doubled in the first run and then Alex DeJong tied it with an RBI single.

Then, with the bases loaded and two outs, TJ Boyle came through with a game-winning, walk-off RBI single. All three seventh-inning runs came with two outs.

“We kind of let that first one go,” Brisel said. “That hurt. I felt comfortable with a 7-5 lead heading into the final at-bat but we let it slip away. They scored three runs in each of the last two innings. At some point, you need to shut it down.”

Oskaloosa out-hit the Cardinals 14-7 in the nightcap. Stanton led Newton with two hits, two runs and two RBIs. Wood had one hit, two runs, an RBI and three walks.

Stanton was 3-for-6 with three runs, two RBIs and two walks on the night.

“He has been hitting the ball hard all year, but we finally found some holes tonight,” Brisel said. “He had a good night.”

Next up for the Cardinals is a home doubleheader against LHC rival and Class 3A No. 1 Pella at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The game against Grinnell at home Tuesday has been postponed again due to a scheduling conflict. No make up date has been set yet.