Speed fuels Cardinal baseball win over Tigers

GRINNELL — Newton High’s Cardinals faced a bases-loaded, two-out situation in the bottom of the seventh inning of a 2-0 game against host Grinnell on Monday. All the Newton fans, players and coaches held their breath as Jake Hull lifted a fly ball toward center field.

“It was in right center field and Brennen laid out to make a great diving catch to end the game,” Newton head baseball coach Dustin Brisel said after the Cardinals notched 2-0 win over the Tigers in Little Hawkeye Conference play.

“It was a fun high school game as pitchers from both teams threw well. Both teams played well defensively, and we got the win,” he said.

Senior center fielder Brennen Dodd’s diving catch at the end helped Newton notch its third win in LHC play. The Cardinals opened the second-round of games against LHC teams with a victory. They lost a doubleheader — 6-0 and 9-3 — at home against Grinnell on June 2.

“I was looking forward to us getting to the second round of games with conference teams. We’re a better team than we were,” Brisel said. “To claim a conference win is big and on the road. The guys are figuring some things out.”

Dodd’s catch and both single-run innings proved to the Cardinals that speed is one of their assets they need to use. Brisel said the Cardinals were not coming out of the batter’s box quick enough.

“Tonight, we beat out a couple of infield hits for singles. We have speed on the base paths and we need to use it, so I told the guys we really need to hustle down the line,” Brisel said. “They did tonight. Brennen’s speed allowed him to get to that final fly ball.”

Seniors Trey Vanderlaan and Tyler Stanton shared the pitching duties for the Cardinals. Vanderlaan started on the mound, worked four innings of shutout baseball. He allowed two hits, walked three and struck out five Tigers. Stanton pitched three innings, giving up three hits and two walks. Hit hit a batter and struck out one.

Newton scored a run in the third inning. With one gone, junior Trevor Ergenbright drew a walk then Dodd reached on a two-out Tiger error. Vanderlaan drove in the run with a base hit.

The Cardinals produced a run in the sixth inning, again starting with one out. Junior Logan Wolfe, who had two hits in the game, singled followed by base hits from junior Blayden Rhone and senior Keith Steinbach to load the bases. Ergenbright worked a two-out walk to force in Rhone for the run.

“It was a well played game. We got the first run then scratched out another one, and played solid defense behind our pitchers all night,” Brisel said. “Reagan Maple (a senior) made a couple of good plays at first to keep runners off the bases. We’re growing as a team.”

Grinnell (13-7, 5-8) used three pitchers. Sophomore Jayden Gibson started and went 4 2/3 innings for the Tigers. Newton had six hits, all singles, and left 11 runners on base against the Tigers.

Newton is 3-9 in LHC play and 5-17 overall. The Cardinals play at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in a varsity doubleheader at Oskaloosa.

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