Oskaloosa edges Newton

Newton High’s Cardinal baseball team is one hit away from claiming a win in the 2017 season. Producing “the” hit they need has been the problem the Cardinals have had in the 0-11 skid.

“We weren’t hitting earlier in the season, but now we’re hitting the ball. We’re hitting it hard but right at people,” Newton head coach Dustin Brisel said after Monday’s 4-3 loss to visiting Oskaloosa.

“We’re just not finding the holes. We haven’t come up with the big hit when we have men on base.”

Newton fell into a 4-0 hole against Oskaloosa. The Cardinals got back in the game, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Brennen Dodd singled and Trey Vanderlaan drew a walk. Trevor Ergenbright moved the runs up one base each on a sacrifice bunt.

Ryan Barr connected for an RBI single then Ben Leal reached on an error allowing Vanderlaan to score. Logan Wolfe’s groundout drove in Barr.

“Tonight, our defense beat us. We did not play our sharpest defensively. We dropped three fly balls. We need to play better defense, especially in close games,” Brisel said. “Trey Vanderlaan pitched another really good game.”

Vanderlaan pitched a complete game for Newton. He allowed 10 hits and struck out six.

Oskaloosa scored a run in the first, two in the second and one in the fourth inning.

Hitting a single each for Newton were Dodd, Vanderlaan, Ergenbright, Barr and Wolfe.

Newton takes a breather and gets a day of practice on Tuesday. The Cardinals step back into Little Hawkeye Conference play with a home doubleheader starting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday against Pella.

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