Osky Boy’s Start Slow Finish Strong 14-11 on the Season.
Oskaloosa’s Jesse Van Dalen turned in a solid performance against Centerville.
by Matt Saville
The Osky boy’s baseball team and the first game of a double header are like kryptonite to Superman…..
Osky cannot seem to find the answer to playing well and coming up with wins in the opening games of the twin bills.
This is exactly what happened when they hosted #10 ranked Centerville Tuesday night in a non-conference double header. They lost the first game 15-2 to the Big Red, while riding a huge pitching performance from Senior Jesse Van Dalen in the night cap to take a 3-1 victory.
In the first game freshman Peyton Crouse went to the mound to try and keep the Big Red hitters off balance with his breaking and off speed pitches. What he found was a very patient Big Red team that was willing to go with the pitches and work the counts in their favors, coming up with the timely hits by jumping on Crouse and fellow freshman Ethan Arnold. The Big Red got a combined 15 hits over 5 2/3 innings. Senior Travis Gile came in to record the last out of the contest, as he got a strikeout.
Leading the way offensively for the Indians were junior TJ Boyle going 2-3 with a double and both RBI’s , senior Nick Rutledge 1-2 with 2 steals and sophomore Joe Sterner 1-3 with a steal.
Game two had about as dominant of a pitcher as there has been for the Indians this season, as Van Dalen was on fire. He had great control of his fastball, hitting his spots and mixing in his breaking stuff nicely. Van Dalen finished the night going all 7 innings, allowing just 5 hits, no earned runs, walking no one and striking out 13 Big Red batters.
Osky still found themselves struggling offensively as they managed just 4 hits in the contest. Junior Mitchell Schaffner went 1-2 with a double and RBI. Rounding out the hits for the Indians were Lundsford, Gile and Rutledge, with each having a single in the 3-1 win.
Wednesday night found the Indians traveling to Newton to take on the Cardinals in a Little Hawkeye Conference game. Osky was sending a well-rested Nick Rutledge to the mound to face the Cardinals. He was equal to the task as he was on point throughout the game, like he has been throughout the season. Rutledge helped lead the Indians to a 3-2 LHC victory.
Osky once again found the going difficult on the offensive side of the ball, as they managed just 6 hits in the contest. However, they did take advantage of several Cardinal miscues, and were able to manufacture runs that way. Rutledge had a double while 5 other Indians, Boyle, Schaffner, Gile, Swanson and Van Dalen, had singles, to pace the Osky offense.
Rutledge needed no help on the mound, as he went all 7 innings. He allowed just 3 hits and no earned runs, while walking just 2 Cardinal batters and striking out 4.
Osky moves to 14-11 on the season and next plays Monday night as they host Norwalk at home in a Varsity double header.
