Miscues plague Mustangs in season-ending loss

PLEASANTVILLE — The Prairie City-Monroe baseball team came into the Class 2A District 12 championship game averaging about two errors per game.

If the Mustangs’ defense stayed true to its season average, the outcome may have been different.

Unfortunately, the defense wasn’t sharp, and sixth-seeded East Marshall took full advantage during an 11-4 win at Pleasantville High School.

The battle of Mustangs went to East Marshall in large part because PCM committed nine errors. Only four of the 11 runs scored by East Marshall were earned.

“That’s the first thing we addressed after the game. Did we deserve to win? We wanted to win, but if you can’t play defense it’s going to be tough to win a ball game with that many errors,” PCM baseball coach Jeff Lindsay said. “You really can’t feel like you deserve to win. I would have loved to have won tonight, but we didn’t play clean baseball.”

Each team had eight hits at the plate. PCM drew three walks and was hit by a pitch. East Marshall walked four times and was hit by one pitch. The strikeouts were about even, too.

The main difference was the miscues, and PCM’s nine was five more than East Marshall’s four.

“We did what we were supposed to do on the mound,” Lindsay said. “We were in the game. Unfortunately, there were too many times when we gave them extra outs, and they took advantage of it. That’s hard to battle back from.”

PCM sophomore Derek Brown started on the mound and went 4 2/3 innings. He took the loss after allowing six runs — three earned — on five hits. Brown struck out 10 and walked three.

Brown was pulled in the fifth inning after his pitch count reached 102. Senior Noah Henkenius finished the game, allowing five runs — one earned — on three hits with two strikeouts, one walk and one hit batter.

“We were hoping to get five out of (Brown),” Lindsay said. “It was a hot night, and I wasn’t going to put his health at risk by stretching him out further. He has better things ahead in his career.

“Noah was ready, and he came in and did a good job, but we were unable to squeeze the ball.”

Both teams scored unearned runs in the first inning.

Brown (2-4) struck out Austin Elliott to lead off the game but a dropped third strike allowed Elliott to reach. He later scored on an RBI double by senior Justin Ridout.

East Marshall committed two of its four errors in the bottom of the first inning.

Junior Preston Van Wyk singled with one out and then stole second base. Junior Wes Cummings reached on an infield single, and Van Wyk scored when the throw to first was off target.

Neither team scored in the second, but East Marshall (13-14) got back in front in the top of the third. Elliott again reached on an error, stole second and scored on another RBI hit from Ridout.

PCM grabbed its first lead in the bottom half. Junior Reed Worth and Van Wyk had back-to-back singles to start the frame. A balk plated Worth and moved Van Wyk to second. Van Wyk then stole third before scoring on Cummings’ RBI ground out.

The fifth-seeded Mustangs stranded two on base in the third and left eight on base in the game.

East Marshall tied the game with a single run in the fourth. Another error put Kam Hoskins on base, and he moved up to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, Elliott brought Hoskins home with an RBI single.

Ridout, who started on the mound and got the win after throwing the first six innings, put East Marshall back in front for good with a solo home run in the top of the fifth.

Brown got Ridout to hit a playable foul ball two pitches before the blast, but PCM was unable to make the catch in foul territory.

It was Ridout’s fifth homer of the season. He was 4-for-4 with a hit by pitch and four RBIs in the game.

“We should have gotten him out a pitch or two before the home run,” Lindsay said. “If we make that play, and he doesn’t get the home run, you never know. That kind of rejuvenated them a little bit.”

Brown struck out the next two batters after Ridout’s homer, but Hoskins doubled and Tyler DeBondt walked.

That’s when Lindsay went to Henkenius, and Colton Weese greeted him with a two-run single to make it 6-3.

PCM (12-14) got one run back in the bottom of the fifth. Juniors Brayton Van Dyke and Olin Meinders and freshman Caleb Duinink hit consecutive singles with two outs. Duinink’s hard hit to the outfield was an RBI hit that scored Van Dyke and trimmed PCM’s deficit to 6-4.

That would be the final run for PCM though as Ridout (5-2) allowed three earned runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts and three walks.

“He didn’t do anything special. We just didn’t quite get the back-to-back hits we needed,” Lindsay said. “We also didn’t always get guys on early in the innings like we had been doing. We didn’t quite get the ball squared up and some of the ones we did get squared up on were right at people.”

Ridout was taken out after throwing 106 pitches over six innings. DeBondt allowed no runs and no hits in the seventh to close out the win.

PCM stranded two runners on base against DeBondt as Meinders reached on an error and senior Colton Warrick was hit by a pitch.

The only earned run Henkenius allowed came in the top of the seventh. He walked Zane Johnson with one out, and then Johnson stole second. Ridout drove in Johnson with an RBI single to make it 11-4.

Before the final run in the seventh, East Marshall batted around and scored four unearned runs in the sixth.

Henkenius induced five ground balls to the infield but only one resulted in an out. Elliott, Johnson and Zach Jacobson all reached on errors and Ridout was hit by a pitch before an out was recorded.

With one out, Hoskins reached on another error and DeBondt followed with a two-run single, the only hit in the inning.

East Marshall takes an eight-game win streak into the 2A Substate 6 championship game. The Mustangs face Centerville at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Pella.

Van Wyk finished with two hits, two steals and two runs for PCM. He capped his season with a team-best .489 batting average and a team-high 32 runs and 22 steals.

Van Dyke also had two hits, one steal and one run. Worth, Cummings, Meinders and Duinink all had one hit apiece. Cummings and Duinink each had an RBI and Worth scored a run.