March 28, 2024

Scarlets beat Cardinals, 4-1

Newton High’s only run came on a solo home run by senior Duncan Lee in the bottom of the sixth inning Tuesday. The Cardinal baseball team dropped a 4-1 decision to visiting Des Moines East at Eversman Field.

“It was a night of no hitting, and we had several defensive flaws which Des Moines East took advantage of,” Newton head coach Dustin Brisel said. “We didn’t play baseball like we have in the past few games and we lost.”

Newton committed three errors behind the pitching of sophomore Garrett Sturtz, who went the distance on the mound. Sturtz allowed eight hits, walked one and struck out five in the loss.

“Garrett threw well. They hit the holes in our infield, and we gave up runs with our errors,” Brisel said.

The Cardinals were held to two singles until Lee’s home run over the left field fence. Junior Connor Gholson followed it with a double, but the Cardinals could not sustain the rally.

The Scarlets scored a run in the first inning on a one-out walk and a two-out Newton error. In the third, another Cardinal defensive miscue opened the door for a run. Leading 2-0, Des Moines East strung together three singles plus another Newton error to plate two runs in the fourth.

“We couldn’t get our hits to drop in tonight. When we made contact at the plate, we hit the ball right at defenders,” Brisel said.

Newton (9-17) will honor its seniors on Friday at Eversman Field in Woodland Park. Senior Night will feature the Cardinals taking on Class 3A fourth-ranked Saydel at 7:30 p.m.

The Cardinal junior varsity hosts Knoxville for a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. Thursday at Eversman Field. It also plays at 5:30 p.m. against Saydel on Friday.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com