It has been a tough week for the North Mahaska Warhawk baseball team in more ways than one. They fell in a couple South Iowa Cedar League road games before ending the week with a 4-0 win over English Valleys.
Monday the Warhawks lost a 9-6 at Keota, but also lost the pitching services of Dodge Duke due to injury. Tuesday, they travelled to Colfax-Mingo and fell in a wild 20-10 affair.
“It’s tough,” said NM coach Kevin Kelderman. “We lost Dodge and Sam (Terpstra) cannot pitch due to the surgery. We keep playing though. We are off now until Monday.”
Wednesday, Nash Smith faced off with English Valleys’ Beau Flander as starting pitchers. Flander has been a relief pitcher but also has been pressed into action as a starter.
“This was Beau’s first start as a pitcher, he has been coming in relief,” said Jeremy Thomas, the English Valleys skipper. “That ground rule double would have been out at our place. Take away a couple line drives, and we would have had a different outcome.”
North Mahaska took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Ben Johannes was hit by a pitch and went to second on a passed ball. An error allowed Johannes to move to third and Ben Boender drove him home with a single. A walk and back-to-back singles by Nate Sampson and Drake Hall allowed NM to put up two more runs.
In EV’s half of the fifth, Landon Montross ripped a single up the middle with two outs and Flander hammered a ball deep to center that hopped the fence and stranded Montross at third. A strikeout ended the Bears’ threat. EV managed just two more baserunners in the game. NM added a run in the bottom of the sixth.
Flander took the loss allowing four runs, one earned on six hits, three walks, three hit batsman and four strikeouts. Smith went the distance with five hits, a walk and eight strikeouts.
The two teams will meet again on June 25 at Duane Banks Stadium on the campus of the University of Iowa. The JV-varsity twinbill is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Homer Leads Keota Past NM
Colten Clarahan had just one hit, but the homerun drove in three runs in Keota’s 9-6 win. North Mahaska had built a 6-2 advantage when Keota answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. They scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh with Clarahan ending it with his shot.
Dodge Duke went 3 2/3 innings before leaving with a shoulder injury. He had given up four runs on three hits, seven walks and five strikeouts. Nolan Andersen took the loss allowing five runs on four hits, three walks and three strikeouts.
Caden Clarahan started the game working four innings. He allowed six runs, five earned on seven hits, two walks and a hit batsman. He struck out six. Aiden McGuire pitched in relief and picked up the victory. He threw three innings walking one batter, striking out three and yielding a hit.
Nate Sampson led North Mahaska’s hitting with two singles and a double. His two RBIs came in the five-run fourth inning. Sam Terpstra doubled with two RBI and Duke hit a single and double.
Ben Johannes and Jayden Stout each added singles.
Colfax-Mingo Wins Wild Affair
Scoring was not a problem for North Mahaska and Colfax-Mingo when the teams met in Colfax June 14. The problem was keeping the other team from scoring. C-M pounded out 14 hits to eight for North Mahaska for a 20-10 victory in six innings.
Through the first inning and a half North Mahaska was in control scoring four in the first and another in the top of the second for a 5-0 lead. C-M answered with four of their own only to see NM tally three for an 8-4 lead entering the bottom of the third.
From there it was all CM. The Tigerhawks scored four in the bottom of the third, five in the fourth and seven in the sixth. In the final three innings North Mahaska managed just two single run frames.
North Mahaska used five different pitchers who combined for 20 runs, 13 earned on 14 hits and 17 walks. They struck out six batters.
Sam Terpstra led NM’s hitting with a two-run homer in the first innings. Nash Smith hit a single to drive in two then hit a solo homerun. Jack Kelderman stroked two singles.
The Bracewell brothers accounted for seven RBIs for the Tigerhawks. Cole hit three singles and a homerun to drive in three while Cael rapped three singles with three RBIs.