L-S baseball uses big inning to down PCM

SULLY — PCM head baseball coach Brent Fridley didn’t like pulling Trenner Van Dyke in the middle of a no-hitter on Monday during the Mustangs’ road contest against Class 1A No. 3 Lynnville-Sully.

But the first-year head coach was thinking about the rest of the week and making sure he had his left-handed senior available for the postseason, which starts on Saturday for the PCM baseball team.

The pitching change was just what the Hawks needed though, and they executed a few bunts and took advantage of one big PCM error during a 5-1 come-from-behind victory during non-conference action.

“Our plan was to throw Shay (Burns) tonight, but he’s battling a shoulder injury,” Fridley said. “So we had to pivot. We wanted to throw (Van Dyke) early so he’s available at the end of the week.

“We were in a pitch count situation where we’re preparing for the rest of the week and the tournament. That’s why we pulled the plug.”

The Mustangs scored first and led 1-0 through four innings. The host Hawks plated all five of their runs in the fifth and Trace Carlson finished Gavin Olea’s fifth pitching win of the season with his second save of the summer.

The Hawks had just three hits in the game, but back-to-back bunt singles got things rolling for Lynnville-Sully, which has registered multiple comeback victories this season.

“We’ve had some close ball games and maybe even some that shouldn’t have been close but were,” L-S head baseball coach Scott Alberts said. “Our kids know if there are outs left on the board, we’ll keep fighting and scrapping. Our kids are never out of it, but I was disappointed with our lack of adjustments at the plate.”

Van Dyke kept the Hawks off balance with a good mixture of his pitches. He finished with eight strikeouts in his four innings and allowed no hits with just one walk and one hit batter in 53 pitches.

“The umpire was giving him a generous outside corner,” Alberts said. “We didn’t do anything to change that. We have to do better with our in-pitch adjustment when we see that. We could have changed our position in the box, slid up a bit or shortened up our hands, and we didn’t make those adjustments.”

PCM (7-13) scored its run in the second. Trigg Steenhoek laced a two-out double in the first but was stranded on third.

Izaac Bagby walked three times in the game. He led off the second with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and then scored on Jensson Hood’s RBI single.

Kaleb DeVries walked and stole second against Olea in the third but did not advance home.

Bagby walked in the fourth, but Olea got out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts and then Terran Gosselink threw out Bagby attempting to steal second to end the inning.

The Mustangs threatened in the fifth, sixth and seventh but did not score.

With two outs, Coby DeRaad doubled and then DeVries singled to put two runners in scoring position. But a fly out to center field ended the threat.

L-S got things going against DeVries, who relieved Van Dyke in the fifth. Carson Maston and Wyatt Mathis were hit by pitches to open the frame and then Olea reached on a bunt single.

No one was covering first base on the play, and L-S scored two runs on a throwing error that went into the outfield.

Gavin Fisk also reached on a bunt single and went to second on a wild pitch before Matthew Mintle drew a walk.

A sacrifice fly from JD Richards made it 3-1, and the Hawks added two more runs when a ball hit by Gosselink to short center field was lost in the lights.

“There was some bad luck, but they executed the small-ball game,” Fridley said. “We threw away the ball on one of those bunts. Our bunt defense had been good, but it didn’t show today. We just made a mental mistake there. It starts with hitting their first two guys in the inning though.”

Alberts said the coaching staff called both bunts from Olea and Fisk. The Hawks (21-2) struck out 11 times in the game so they decided to make the PCM defense move a little bit.

“Those bunts were big. Both Gavins getting on were big and then it just snowballed for us,” said Gosselink, who finished with one hit, one walk, one hit by pitch and two RBIs in the win. “He was hitting that outside corner and we didn’t adjust to it, which wasn’t good. We’ve been in that position before. We’re never out of it.”

Fridley was perhaps most happy with his guys when they came right back after the Hawks’ five-run inning and loaded the bases in the sixth and put two more on in the seventh.

“I was happy with our approach at the plate,” Fridley said. “We ran their starter’s pitch count up and fouled off lots of pitches. It was good to see us load the bases after their big inning. We had a chance to get right back in it, but it was a back-breaker not scoring there.

“I was proud of us fighting there and getting two more on in the seventh, too.”

But the Mustangs couldn’t score in either inning to close their deficit.

Olea was chased after walking Jaden Houser and Bagby to open the inning.

Carlson struck out the side but not before walking Alex Wendt to load the bases.

Steenhoek singled off Carlson with two outs in the seventh and then Houser walked to put two runners on base. The game ended though when Carlson got Bagby to ground out to second base.

“I thought he threw well,” Alberts said about Olea. “We had that long inning, and I told him he may need to go out and warm up again because we went through the batting order and he’s just sitting there. Then he walked the first two guys the next inning so I pulled him. He threw well up until that point.”

Maston and Mathis both were hit by a pitch and scored one run, Fisk singled and scored one run and Mintle walked once and scored one run.

Olea totaled one hit, Richards registered one RBI and Gosselink was hit by his 13th pitch this season, which ranks in the top 20 of 1A.

Gosselink also was shaken up during the game when a ball got under his catcher’s mask and hit him in the throat.

“The pitcher slipped and spiked it. It got under my throat guard, but I’m OK,” Gosselink said. “I do get hit by a lot of pitches at the plate, too, but I will do whatever I have to do to get on base.”

Olea improved to 5-0 on the mound after allowing one earned run on four hits and five walks in five innings. He fanned seven.

Carlson registered his second save of the season after surrendering no runs, one hit and two walks with three strikeouts in two innings.

Alberts said he likes Carlson in the end-of-game relief role in part because he’s left-handed and doesn’t throw as hard as the other pitchers on the squad.

“We like to pair him with our No. 1 and No. 2 because it’s an adjustment for the other team,” Alberts said. “We’ll give him some opportunities to close things out, but he’s probably in the No. 3 or No. 4 spot in the rotation.”

Steenhoek finished with two hits and doubled, DeRaad doubled and DeVries totaled one hit and walked once and Bagby walked three times and scored one run.

Steenhoek leads PCM with five doubles and DeVries drew his team-best 20th walk. Houser walked twice, Wendt walked once and Hood singled and had the team’s lone RBI in the second.

DeVries (1-3) took the pitching loss after surrendering five runs — two earned — on three hits, one walk and two hit batters in two innings. He struck out four.

Lynnville-Sully 10, Moravia 0

Jack Bowlin had two hits at the plate and tossed a one-hitter on the mound to lead the Hawks to a 10-0 home win over Moravia on Tuesday.

Lynnville-Sully led the non-conference game 1-0 after one, went up 4-0 in the third and then plated two runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth frames to end the game early.

The Hawks, who have won six straight games, out-hit Moravia 11-1. It was Lynnville-Sully’s fourth straight win over the Mohawks, who dropped to 19-4.

Gosselink finished with three hits, one double and one RBI to lead L-S at the plate.

Bowlin registered two hits, one RBI and one walk and improved his team-best batting average to .406.

Richards totaled one hit, two runs, one RBI, one walk and two steals and he was hit by one pitch. He leads the Hawks with 19 steals.

Maston doubled, scored one run, had one RBI and walked once. He’s leading L-S with 39 total bases, 20 walks and eight doubles.

Lannon Montgomery tallied one hit, one run, two RBIs and one walk. He leads the Hawks with 29 runs and 32 RBIs.

Brody Borg and Mintle contributed one hit and one run, Fisk chipped in two RBIs and one steal, Olea got the other hit, Mathis scored one run and Ethan Dunsbergen scored three runs and stole three bases.

Bowlin (5-0) earned the pitching win after allowing no runs, one hit and three walks in six innings. He struck out seven and now has 52 strikeouts in 31 innings this summer.