Cardinals go 1-1 in home tourney

Walking off their home field on a good note for a split of two games in the 2018 Newton Baseball Tournament on Saturday were the hosting Newton High Cardinals.

Newton ( 7-11) had a disappointing opener Saturday afternoon, losing to Gilbert 11-0 in five innings. The Cardinals regrouped with a bye round and returned to Eversman Field to power past Pleasantville using a seven-run fifth inning to propel them to a 10-4 win.

Gilbert pounded out 10 hits against Newton in its win. The Tigers turned right around and rolled to an 11-0 win over Class 4A No. 10 Davenport West in five innings. Class 3A fourth-ranked Carlisle went 2-0 with a 13-5 win over Davenport West and a 14-1 five-inning victory over Pleasantville.

“We’re just fighting things right now. We’ve had some injuries taking our top two catchers out of commission right now, and both pitch and play other field positions for us,” Newton head coach Dustin Brisel said.

“We’ll take this win to end a long, hot day for our guys. They were asked to get both fields ready throughout the day plus play two games. We didn’t come out with much energy against a good hitting Gilbert team, but they came back and got the job done against Pleasantville.”

Gilbert’s Michael Hart held Newton to two hits as the winning pitcher. Hart also did damage at the plate with three doubles in three at bats with three RBIs.

Gilbert scored five runs in the first inning against Newton. The Tigers had one run in the second inning, two more in the third and three runs in the fourth.

Taylor Danley and Ben Leal each had a single for Newton.

Clay Meyer had his first varsity start on the mound and was charged with five runs on four hits and one walk. Only two of the runs were earned. Cole Cazett worked three innings, giving up six runs on six hits and three walks. Blayden Rhone shut the Tigers down in the final 1 1/3 innings.

“We knew going into today what we had and throwing a couple of guys with little or no varsity pitching experience. Clay threw strikes which is what we tell pitchers to do,” Brisel said. “Let teams hit it because we have a good defense behind you.”

Brisel said unfortunately, the Cardinals did not play well behind the pitchers against Gilbert. He said the Cardinals had a couple of bobbles allowing the aggressive running Tigers to take extra bases.

“That’s the way we usually play the game. We just didn’t get it done against Gilbert today,” Brisel said. “We just talked to them about what we need to do. If you don’t come out with high energy in a game, this is what happens. We’ll get a little rest in between games and get after it against Pleasantville.”

In the final game of the tournament, Newton answered Pleasantville’s Trojans in the first inning. The Trojans plated one in the top of the inning.

The Cardinals got a two-out single by Ergenbright, who stole second then got out of a rundown situation between second and third when the Trojans had an errant throw on the play. With Ergenbright at third, Barr singled to drive in the tying run.

Newton had Danley, who has been starting at third base, pitching and Kamden Kuennen in at third to begin the game. Danley and the Cardinals worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the second without the Trojans scoring.

But Danley walked the first two batters of the third inning so Brisel called on Rhone, who plays right field, to come on in relief.

“Taylor Danley was on the bump for the first time in a varsity game. He had a good start. Blayden Rhone was tremendous in relief in this game and the first game,” Brisel said. “It was huge. Late in this long week of play, we needed some guys to step up and pitch for us.”

Pleasantville did score twice in the third to take a 3-1 lead, but the Cardinals answered again. Newton plated two runs in the fourth to tie the game. Barr singled and stole second followed by an RBI base hit by Rhone.

Luke Maharry went in as a courtesy runner for Rhone and stole second and went to third base on a groundout by Julian Hotchkin. A groundout by Cazett drove in Maharry for the tying run.

Newton broke the game open with a seven-run fifth inning. Meyer and Ergenbright had back-to-back singles and moved up on a fielder’s choice. Rhone doubled in a run. Hotchkin singled to drive in a run and stole second.

Cazett drew a walk to load the bases and Danley was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Kuennen delivered a two-run double. Danley scored on a passed ball and Leal hit an RBI single.

When the dust settled, Newton was up 10-3. The Trojans produced a run off a walk, a Cardinal error and a groundout in the sixth inning, but that was it.

Rhone got the win on the mound, pitching 4 2/3 innings. He allowed one run on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Danley went 2 1/3 innings as the starter, giving up three runs on two hits and six walks. He struck out three.

Rhone and Hotchkin each had a single and a double while Ergenbright and Barr had two singles apiece. Kuennen doubled. Danley, Leal and Meyer had a single each.

Brisel was pleased how his players battled late in the game to get the big inning. He said he wanted to give props to the Cardinal junior varsity players, who helped with the fields, played two games in their own tournament and several hopped in and helped in the second varsity game.

“It’s next man in for us right now with the run of injuries we have,” Brisel said.

Barr, who was the team’s starting catcher, has a shoulder problem limiting him to just batting for Newton. He is also a pitcher. In the second game of Friday’s doubleheader at home against Dallas Center-Grimes, the other varsity catcher Ty Argeullo was hit in the helmet from the back swing of a DCG batter.

Prior to the first game, Newton inducted Tyler and Trent Williams into the NHS Baseball Hall of Fame. Tyler played for Newton 1999-2002 with a career batting average of .335 and was fifth in career home runs with 10. Trent finished with a .404 career batting average, playing for Newton in 2004-2006, and had 83 career strikeouts as a pitcher. Both played at Ellsworth Community College after graduating from Newton.

The Cardinal baseball team also recognized any Newton Little League players before the game. Four youth players went on the field with the Cardinals for player introductions and the National Anthem.

Newton’s junior varsity also went 1-1 in its tournament earlier in the day. It lost 5-3 to Pleasantville in the opener. It defeated Carlisle 4-2 to take third place.

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