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COLFAX — CMB baseball coach Duane Miller saw one of the better outings his team has put together this season.
Colfax-Mingo baseball coach Bob Fippinger wants to forget Wednesday night even happened.
The Tigerhawks committed six errors and CMB had a strong all-around effort as the Raiders took an 8-4 win in Heart of Iowa Conference play in Colfax.
“Tonight they came mentally ready, hit the ball, good pitching — it was just a good game,” Miller said. “It was a good game to get us ready for Saturday’s districts.”
On the flipside, the defense — a strong suit for the Tigerhawks this season — was a cause for concern. Six errors will do that to a coach on Senior Night, where the team honored seven players in the sloppy conditions. Colfax received around three inches of rain that morning.
“The defense failed us,” Fippinger said. “Usually the defense is strong, and it sure stunk up the joint tonight.”
CMB struck first in the second inning. With two outs, the Raiders found junior Nick Tillman and sophomore Cody Schmitz on the corners. Sophomore Andrew Broderick came through with a single to put CMB up 1-0.
The Raiders added to the lead in the third inning. With the bases loaded and one out, back-to-back walks by seniors Dylan Hansen and Logan Gibbs made it 3-0. Colfax-Mingo relief pitcher Mitch Tomlonovic then got an inning-ending double play to avoid any more damage.
“We have to get up early and stay up to keep this team going,” Miller said. “That’s what they did tonight.”
Colfax-Mingo scored run in the third inning when junior Dylan Berkey came through with an RBI single to score courtesy runner Justin Fisher, but CMB came back in the fourth inning with two more runs. Senior Josh Benton came through with a two-RBI double to plate Broderick and senior Marcus Schmidt to make it 5-1.
“We were aggressive — aggressive base running,” Miller said. “The doubles, taking the base hits, sending them home — we got caught at home one time, but that’s all right. You have to be aggressive in this game.”
The Tigerhawks got within 5-4 in the fifth inning when seniors Robbie Forschler and Lucas Weston got back-to-back RBI singles, and three batters later, senior Chad Sommars forced in a run on a bases loaded walk. The next batter popped out as the Tigerhawks left them loaded.
“It’s too hard to keep coming back,” Fippinger said. “It’s too hard to get four or five runs and come back. You just can’t do it.”
CMB put the game away in the sixth inning. Errors allowed Schmitz and Broderick to score before a sacrifice fly by Benton allowed Schmidt to score.
Those three runs made it too much in the end for Colfax-Mingo to rally one last time. The Tigerhawks left 10 on base for the game.
Hansen picked up the complete game win for CMB after allowing eight hits, three walks and striking out four.
“That was real good,” Miller said of Hansen. “They started getting on him at the end of the game, but you can’t do anything about hits.”
CMB (9-12) is now off until Saturday’s postseason opener at Bondurant against Van Meter. Colfax-Mingo (11-12) travels to JSPC for its final conference game of the season before heading to Pella Christian on Saturday to open districts.
“It was real tough for these seniors to go out with a loss in their last home game,” Fippinger said. “I’m hoping we come out of this deep funk. We need to get out of it before districts.”
CMB 8,
Colfax-Mingo 4
R H E
CMB 012 203 0 — 8 8 2
C-M 001 030 0 — 4 8 6
CMB: Dylan Hansen 3K 4BB and Parker Murphy. C-M: Michael Wilson 5K 3BB, Mitch Tomlonovic 0K 1BB (3), Alex Wolf 3K 1BB (6), Chad Sommars 0K 1BB (7) and Robbie Forschler. W — Hansen. L — Wilson. 2B — CMB: Josh Benton, Alex Broderick. Multiple hitters — CMB: Benton 2, Broderick 2. C-M: Dylan Berkey 2, Forschler 2, Preston Wilson 2. RBI — CMB: Benton 3, Hansen 1, Logan Gibbs 1, Broderick 1. C-M: Berkey 1, Forschler 1, Lucas Weston 1, Sommars 1.