March 19, 2024

Mental lapses stifle Newton baseball

DES MOINES — Newton High’s Cardinals were going along pretty well in a 1-all game against host Des Moines Lincoln. They had matched the Railsplitters with a run in the second.

It was still tied through four complete innings. Then the wheels came off in the bottom of the fifth of Thursday’s game.

“We had a mental blow up in the fifth. We just didn’t handle the situations we had defensively very well,” Newton head coach Dustin Brisel said following a 7-1 loss.

Newton’s starting pitcher Ryan Barr and relief pitcher Ben Leal had trouble finding the strike zone in the fifth.

There were walks issued, wild pitches thrown, passed balls by catchers and three errors. It all led to four Lincoln runs.

The Railsplitters added two more runs in the sixth. There was a walk and a wild pitch in that inning also.

“We really had the one inning when we didn’t respond well to things,” Brisel said. “We played well enough defensively, except for that inning. We didn’t compete as well this game as in other games this season.”

After Lincoln scored in the first inning for a 1-0 lead, Newton came right back in its half of second. Trey Vanderlaan singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Barr. Jace Lukefahr delivered an RBI base hit.

The teams played two scoreless innings. Newton left four men on base during the game and Lincoln stranded six base runners.

“This was against a team we matched up well with and had an opportunity to win a game on the road,” Brisel said. “Having the mental blow up we had is not going to happen again.”

Barr pitched four innings. He gave up four runs on five hits and five walks. Leal allowed three runs on one hit and two walks in two innings of work.

Tyler Stanton hit two singles for Newton’s offense. Hitting a single each were Trevor Ergenbright, Bennen Dodd, Vanderlaan, Lukefahr and Jaron Roush.

Newton’s junior varsity lost to Des Moines Lincoln, 13-8.

Newton fell to 5-20 overall. The Cardinals take a 3-11 Little Hawkeye Conference mark into Friday’s game at Pella.

“We have to put this behind us and move forward. We’re back in action Friday,” Brisel said.

Newton split a doubleheader with Pella on June 7. Pella (12-11) is coming off a split of LHC twin bill with Norwalk.

The Little Dutch are 7-8 in conference play.

The junior varsity game is slated for 5:30 p.m. followed by the varsity game at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Pella.

Newton hosts Norwalk on Monday.

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