Down to last strike, PCM baseball team rallies past South Hamilton

JEWELL — The Prairie City-Monroe baseball team was down to its final strike in the seventh inning Monday during a Heart of Iowa Conference game against South Hamilton.

Trailing 4-2, junior Noah Henkenius delivered a two-run double to tie it and then sophomore Brayton Van Dyke recorded a two-run single in the eighth to give the Mustangs an extra-inning triumph.

South Hamilton plated one run in the second inning, but PCM went up 2-1 on a two-run single by Henkenius in the third.

The Hawks (2-7 overall, 0-6) tied the game in the fourth with a single run.

In the sixth, South Hamilton took the lead following a bases-loaded walk and a bases-loaded hit by pitch.

The Mustangs (6-3, 4-3) collected 10 hits. Henkenius, Van Dyke, senior Ethan Thomas and sophomore Preston Van Wyk all had two hits apiece.

Henkenius drove in four runs and Van Wyk and sophomore Reed Worth both scored two runs.

Thomas is now hitting .524 on the season.

Freshman Derek Brown started on the mound and allowed one earned run on six hits with six strikeouts, two walks and one hit by pitch.

Worth and Brayton Van Dyke and Henkenius all threw in relief. Van Dyke got the win and Henkenius earned the one-out save.

PCM coach Jeff Lindsay was forced to pull Van Dyke with a 3-2 count and two outs in the seventh inning because of the new pitch count rules.

“I had to pull him out because he was at 39 pitches,” Lindsay said. “If I let him throw more than 40, he wouldn’t be able to pitch for us in a conference game Wednesday.”

PCM hosts Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Prairie City.