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STORY CITY — Junior Noah Henkenius threw six solid innings and won a pitching dual against Roland-Story on June 14 during Heart of Iowa Conference play.
The Mustangs scored two runs on six hits, but won the game 2-1 after Henkenius and sophomore Brayton Van Dyke combined to surrendered just one run on five hits.
PCM (13-6) is now 7-4 in conference play. Roland-Story (13-9) lost its third straight game and dropped to 4-5 in HOIC action.
“We had timely hitting, and Noah pitched a very nice game tonight,” PCM coach Jeff Lindsay said. “Defensively, we played well again. Hopefully that is starting to work itself out.”
Sophomore Reed Worth had two hits and scored the winning run on an RBI hit by Henkenius in the third inning.
Van Dyke walked twice and his RBI hit scored senior Noah Clark in the second inning. Clark and senior Braden Phifer had the other hits.
Henkenius improved to 3-1 on the season after allowing one earned run on five hits with four strikeouts in six innings.
Van Dyke earned his third save of the season after striking out three and walking one in the seventh inning.
PCM hosted Collins-Maxwell/Baxter on June 19. The Mustangs play Gilbert at 7:30 p.m. on June 23 in Prairie City.
PCM 9, Greene County 0
JEFFERSON — Freshman Derek Brown needed just 76 pitches to earn a complete-game win over Greene County on June 12.
Brown allowed three hits and struck out four while walking none as the Mustangs defeated the Rams, 9-0.
PCM led 3-0 after six innings and then pulled away with a six-run seventh inning. PCM scored six runs in the seventh off three Greene County errors. Rams relief pitcher Bruce Hoyle also balked in two runs in the seventh.
Brown’s earned run average is now .58. The only runner to get past second base was Greene County’s Ben Bravard, who walked, stole second and went to third on a fly out in the fifth inning.
“He was hitting his spots,” Lindsay said. “He had command of all of his pitches. It was a great performance.”
The Mustangs had 13 hits in the win.
Reed Worth had three hits, one run and one RBI. Senior Ryan Hill and sophomore Olin Meinders each had two hits and two RBIs and Van Dyke collected two hits, scored two runs and had an RBI.
Senior Ethan Thomas had two hits and scored two runs and Phifer and Henkenius each had one hit and scored one run.
“We had very good at-bats,” Lindsay said. “Even our outs were hit hard. We seem to be understanding our concept of what to do at the plate. We are also becoming better situational hitters.”
Saydel 8, PCM 1
The Mustangs were held to one hit in a 5-1 HOIC loss to the first-place Eagles on June 16.
PCM used six pitchers but still couldn’t slow down Saydel, which scored five of its runs in the first three innings. It was Saydel’s ninth straight win.
Worth had the only hit of the game for PCM, and he also walked once and scored the lone run.
The Mustangs walked eight times in the loss. Phifer and Van Dyke each walked twice.
Brown (3-1) started on the mound and lost for the first time this season after surrendering one earned run on one hit with one walk and one strikeout in one inning. Van Dyke, Worth, sophomore Preston Van Wyk, junior Brady Fagen and freshman Dane Owens all pitched in relief.
Saydel senior Devin Porter improved his batting average to .536 after recording two hits, two runs, two RBIs, one walk and one stolen base. Nate Sepich was 4-for-4 at the plate, and TJ Stephenson improved to 6-0 on the mound after allowed no runs on no hits with strikeouts in five relief innings.
Albia 2, PCM 1
ALBIA — A two-out error in the first inning plagued PCM on June 15 during a nonconference road game against Albia.
The Mustangs plated their only run in the top of the first inning but an error with two outs led to two Albia runs during PCM’s 2-1 loss.
The game was called after PCM was retired in the fifth because of lightning. It will go down in the books as an official game.
PCM defeated Albia 14-3 on June 3 at the Colfax-Mingo tournament. On June 15, the Mustangs had three hits at the plate, two of which were collected by Van Wyk.
In the top of the first, Van Wyk tripled to lead off the game and then scored on a wild pitch. Van Wyk had another hit later in the game and also was intentionally walked. Hill had the Mustangs’ only other hit.
Braden Phifer (2-3) took the loss on the mound despite allowing just one hit. The two runs scored by Albia (4-15) were unearned, and he fanned seven.