Newton baseball hangs on for a win over Pella Christian

PELLA — A win is a win. Newton High’s baseball team built an 11-0 lead over host Pella Christian in the second game of Monday’s Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader. They had lost the first game, 3-2, on an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the ninth by the Eagles.

The Cardinals hung on as the Eagles charged almost all the way back, scoring 10 runs in the final three innings. Newton captured its third win of the season and second LHC win, 11-10.

“It hurts when you lose a game in nine innings. Our guys did a great job of coming back and taking a lead, but we had trouble getting the final out,” Newton head coach Dustin Brisel said.

Newton committed five errors in the second game and four of those came in the seventh inning. The Cardinals held an 11-5 lead as the Eagles came to bat in the bottom of the seventh.

Newton starting pitcher Trevor Ergenbright gave way to Taylor Griener in the sixth. Greiner was on the mound in relief in the seventh and issued a walk to Pella Christian’s leadoff batter. He then got two outs.

The Eagles took advantage of four Newton errors, a single and a triple to plate five runs. With the tying and winning runs on base, Greiner got Cole Webster to foul out to Trey Vanderlaan at first base to end the threat and the game.

Newton had claimed control of the contest with a seven-run third inning to lead 8-1. The Cardinals added three more runs in the fourth.

The Cardinals pushed a run across in the second when Vanderlaan reached on an error and scored on a two-out double by Ben Leal. All of the scoring in the third for Newton started with two outs.

Tyler Stanton walked and Ergenbright tripled then Vanderlaan and Ryan Barr drew walks to load the bases. Ty Arguello delivered an RBI single. Leal reached on an error as two runs came home.

Logan Wolfe singled in a run followed by Blayden Rhone walking. Brennen Dodd had an RBI base it. With the bases loaded again, Stanton drew walk to force in a run.

“I talked to the guys before that inning and told them they just needed to relax. Hitting is contagious and not hitting is contagious. If you put the ball in play, good things happen,” Brisel said. “They went up and took good swings. We got base hits and had good base running.”

It continued into the fourth inning. Vanderlaan led off with a double, Barr reached on an error and Arguello drew base-on-balls. Leal and Wolfe had back-to-back RBI groundouts. Rhone hit a base hit to drive in a run.

In the fifth inning, Pella Christian scored three runs on two home runs — a solo by Isac Vander Hart and a two-run shot by Will Dembski. It was Dembski’s inside-the-park home run with two gone in the ninth which won the first game for Pella Christian.

A Newton error in the sixth inning cost two more runs to make it 11-5.

“As I said hitting is contagious and Pella Christian started to hit the ball and put it in play late in the game. We’ll take the win,” Brisel said. “We have to learn to relax and continue to make plays defensively when we have a lead.”

Ergenbright was the winning pitcher for Newton, going 5 1/3 innings. He allowed five runs on nine hits and two walks. He struck out six. Greiner had the save in 1 2/3 innings of work, giving up five urns on three hits and one walk and he struck out one.

Vanderlaan had a single and a double for Newton. Ergenbright tuples and Leal doubled. Dodd, Arguello, Wolfe and Rhone each had a single.

In Monday’s opening game, Newton scored single runs in the second and fifth innings. Pella Christian had single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to forge a 2-2 tie game, which went into extra innings. The Eagles won in the ninth.

Vanderlaan started on the mound for Newton and went four innings. He gave up one run on five hits and three walks and struck out six. Stanton pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits and had three strikeouts.

Leal took the pitching loss for the Cardinals. He threw one inning, giving up one run on one hit and one walk.

“Our pitchers were throwing strikes. They were in the zone and we got good relief innings in both games. We went into the game with a plan to help save arms because we have seven games this week. We did fine,” Brisel said.

Ergenbright was 3-for-4 at the plate with these singles. Stanton and Rhone each had a single.

Newton is 2-7 in LHC play and 3-14 overall. The Cardinals play at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at home against Class 4A No. 8 Indinaola in conference action at Woodland Park.

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