Cardinal baseball battle Pella, lose 2

Leading 7-4 going into the top of the seventh inning, Newton High’s Cardinals were on the brink of winning their first Little Hawkeye Conference baseball game.

The visiting Little Dutch of Pella had other plans because they hadn’t won in conference play either. They scored three runs in the seventh, held the Cardinals scoreless in the bottom of the inning and forced extra innings.

It was the first of two games at Newton’s Eversman Field on Monday night. Pella manufactured a go-ahead run in the top of the ninth to lead 8-7.

With one gone, Newton’s Ryan Barr singled but the Cardinals could not get him around. A fly-ball out and a strikeout ended the game.

The teams squared off again Monday night. Pella held on for a 6-5 win.

“It’s the little things that are tripping us up on offense and defense right now. Those all can be fixed,” Newton head coach Dustin Brisel said. “We have to find a way to win these types of games.”

Newton fell to 0-5 in LHC play and 1-7 overall. Pella is 2-3 and 5-6.

Next up for the Cardinals is a conference game on Wednesday at Norwalk. The junior varsity game is at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity contest is slated for 7:30 p.m.

“All of our pitchers tonight threw awesome. We were throwing strikes. Defensively we played alright, but not as sharp as we needed to,” Brisel said.

Brisel was pleased his team got off to a great start in the first game. The Cardinals scored two runs in the bottom of the first after Pella had plated a run.

In the second inning, Kael Swarts helped himself as Newton’s starting pitcher with a single. With one out, Dalton Altemeier and Ty Arguello had back-to-back singles as they scored three runs.

Pella pulled to within one run, 5-4, with three runs in the third. Newton got single runs in the fourth and fifth to lead 7-4.

“We have to finish better when we have a lead,” Brisel said.

Swarts pitched 3 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on four hits and two walks. Taylor Danley threw three innings and gave up three runs on three hits and a walk.

Swarts had three strikeouts and Danley had four strikeouts in no-decision efforts. Brayden Chance took the loss, going 2 2/3 and allowing one run on four hits and had three strikeouts.

Pella used four pitchers. Newton had 12 hits and Pella had 11 hits.

Arguello and Barr were 3-for-5 with three singles apiece. Swarts had a single and a double. Altemeier had two singles and Clay Meyer singled.

“We had one bad inning in the second game also,” Brisel said. “We had taken a lead (1-0) then gave up three runs.

“But the guys could have folded up their tents down 6-2 but battled to the end. We got three runs and got to within one run. We just couldn’t get the win.”

Barry took the loss on the mound. He pitched four innings, allowing four runs on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts. Frankie Cataldo went three innings, giving up two runs on four hits and three walks with two strikeouts.

Julian Hotchkin and Barr each had two singles. Hitting a single each were Arguello, Meyer, Swarts and Chance.

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