Olea’s no-hitter leads L-S baseball past North Mahaska

SULLY — Gavin Olea didn’t know he threw a no-hitter on Thursday until teammate Connor Deal told him in the huddle after the game.

Olea was locked in in more ways than one against North Mahaska, and his pitching performance set the tone in the South Iowa Cedar League matchup against the Warhawks.

The bats took care of the rest as four crooked numbers helped the Class 1A No. 3 Hawks down their rivals 16-0 at home.

“The curve ball really worked in the bullpen before the game so I started throwing that had a good mixture going with the fastball,” Olea said. “I used the change up and even a slider sometimes, too.”

Olea’s only blemish was a hit by pitch in the fourth and a North Mahaska player also reached on a one-out error in the top of the first.

The Hawks (15-2, 11-1 in the SICL) batted around in the opening inning. The first five batters reached base and scored. JD Richards reached an infield single that went about 3 feet down the third-base line, Lannon Montgomery got on after a fielder’s choice and Terran Gosselink singled to load the bases.

Jack Bowlin drove in the first run when he got plunked by a pitch and then Carson Maston delivered a two-run single.

After the bases were once again loaded, Richards came back to the plate and hammered an RBI double to make it 7-0.

Olea reached base on an error, Gavin Fisk was hit by a pitch and Matthew Mintle reached base on a fielder’s choice and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Richards finished with three hits, one double, two runs and one RBI in the win.

He’s batting lead-off this season, a spot in the lineup he’s used to but was not in during last year’s championship run.

“I’ve batted lead-off for most of my life. I feel comfortable up there,” Richards said. “I just saw a bunch of fast balls. You just wait for a fast ball that’s a strike unless there’s two strikes.”

The lead grew to 9-0 after two. Bowlin and Maston both singled with one out in the second and then a double steal put the runners in scoring position.

A sacrifice fly by Brody Borg plated Bowlin and Maston scored on Olea’s RBI single.

Mintle opened the third with a single and then he stole second. Another hit by Richards put runners on the corners.

Montgomery later walked, Bowlin hit a sacrifice fly to right field, Maston walked and Borg singled.

With the Hawks leading 12-0 after three, they ended the game with a four-run fourth.

Fisk was hit by a pitch to begin the frame. Mintle singled again to put two runners on base and Richards walked to loaded them up again.

A throwing error by the North Mahaska catcher led to the 13th run of the game and Montgomery walked it off with a three-run dinger to left field.

Maston finished with two hits, two runs, two RBIs, one walk and one steal and Mintle collected two hits, one steal and three runs from the No. 9 spot in the lineup.

“My role is to just get on base any way I can,” Mintle said. “We have a great lead-off hitter, and if I can get it back to him and get on base, that helps us. Getting those early runs today was big.”

Mintle is one of a large chunk of Hawks who are still trying to find a spot in the lineup after playing smaller roles on last year’s team.

Fisk started for the first time this season and is competing with Ethan Dunsbergen, Wyatt Mathis, Borg, Mintle, Deal and a few others for playing time.

“We’ve got some season left,” Lynnville-Sully head coach Scott Alberts said. “We’re looking for the group that gives us the best chance to win. And everyone has continued to work to figure it out. No one has given up because they aren’t playing enough, and they are making it tough on us.”

Bowlin added one hit, two runs, two RBIs and one hit by pitch, Borg and Olea each tallied one hit and one RBI and Gosselink chipped in one hit.

Fisk produced two runs after getting hit by two pitches and Dunsbergen drew a pinch-hit walk in the fourth and scored two runs.

Montgomery finished with one hit, three runs, three RBIs, one walk and one steal. He leads the Hawks with 25 runs and 15 walks this summer.

“He’s been with me for a long time and continues to perform,” Alberts said. “He was good last year, but his stats last year didn’t say elite until the end of the season. He batted .500 in the tournament. That’s the best pitching in the state and he batted .500. He took a leap then and has just continued to go.”

North Mahaska leads the all-time series 19-18, but L-S has won 12 straight games against the Warhawks.

Olea induced seven ground balls in the game, struck out the side in the second and fanned two more in the fourth. North Mahaska did not hit a ball out of the infield against him.

He lowered his earned run average to .58 after 12 innings.

“He has gotten better throughout the season the past two years,” Alberts said about Olea. “He’s thrown to our batters in live sessions at the end of the last two years and he’s looked like a No. 2 or No. 3 pitcher to me. He just struggled with consistency the past few seasons.

“His control has been better and he only allowed one free base tonight. He was on top of his pitches, moved the ball around the zone and executed like we wanted him to.”