Baseball Takes Four of Six in Week Two
Landon Hunolt makes the catch for the Indians against Pella on Friday afternoon. (photo by Tasha Janssen)
by Justin Burtis
Oskaloosa — Once again, the Oskaloosa Indians put up more wins than losses as they entered the second week of the season. The Indians ended the week in second spot in the Little Hawkeye conference with a record of 7-3 and a conference mark of 6-3. They are three games behind Dallas Center-Grimes, who remain undefeated.
The first win of the week on Tuesday came down to the wire in Knoxville. The Panthers got the scoring started in the bottom of the first against Tyler Miller. Osky would find a way as they evened the score in the top of the third. Miller went five innings on the day, giving up five hits and one earned run with six strike outs. He was certainly in a grove during the middle innings, which allowed his offense to score again.
Notching a go ahead run in the top of the sixth and put the lead out of reach by scoring three in the top of the seventh. However, the Panthers would not go away. They got runners aboard and put two on the board to make it 5-3. Jarrett Czerwinski was pulled and Wes Wilcox came in and the junior was able to put the game to bed. Striking out two, he made sure the Indians started the week with a win. Miller got the win as the team score five on six hits, committing one error. Both Wyatt Krier and Miller had two hits, with Miller helping his own cause by blasting a triple on the day. Four players drove in runs as the Panthers committed an error that scored the other. Osky was also a perfect 8-8 on stealing bases.
Home to Norwalk for the following contest, the Indians came up a bit short despite an early lead. Wyatt Krier got the start on the bump and gave up one to the visiting Warriors in the top of the first. But the Indians gave him some support in the bottom half. Two runs made in 2-1 Osky but Norwalk would go quietly. After a quiet second inning, the Warriors put up two more runs to take the lead, which they would not relinquish. The Indians got one back in the bottom of the seventh but Norwalk had put three runs across in the top half of the final inning, as Oskaloosa fell on the day 6-3.
Krier went one inning in the book, giving up one run on one hit. He walked three and struck out two. Noah Van Veldhuizen went two and one third, striking out three but also giving up one run on one hit. Alex Christ got tagged for two runs, as the freshman struggled in his two thirds of work. Kale Bollinger went three innings, giving up two runs on three hits, along with walking one and hitting two batters.
Krier had three hits along with Van Veldhuizen to top the team. Krier and Colton Butler knocked in two of the three Osky runs but nine hits could not deliver any more runs. The team did not have any errors but could not find a way back against the Warriors.
A compressed schedule meat the Indians played double headers both Thursday and Friday, starting away at Newton. Oskaloosa earned a split after just coming up short in game one.
Game one looked to be going the way the Indians wanted it to. They scored three runs in the top of the first to put the Cardinals on the back foot. The offense would tally eight hits on the day, highlighted by an RBI double by Miller and another double from Butler. The top seven in the line up each had one hit in game one.
Newton sliced back for one in the bottom half and each team would score one in the fifth. Czerwinski got the start and delivered some great pitching. Going six and a third, he gave up only four hits while striking out five and walking two. But three errors cost the Indians, as Czerwinski gave up four runs on account of the mistakes. Marcus Fresquez and Aiden Hildenbrand attempted to get the final outs in the seventh but they could not hold off the Cardinals, who scored three for the walk-off win. Fresquez took the loss while three combined to give up only five hits.
A quick turnaround saw the teams jump back on the field for game two and Oskaloosa took some revenge out o Newton the second time around. Blasting away for 18 runs, the pitching held Newton to three runs as the Indians picked up the win. It was 7-0 by the end of the top of the first. While Newton put two up in the bottom half against Hildenbrand, the Indians threw eight more back on the board in the top of the second. Osky would score two in the third and one in the fourth while the Cardinals got their only other run in the bottom of the fourth as well.
Hildenbrand got the win in the five inning game, as he gave up one earned run on two hits, with three walks and two Ks. Fresquez got the final one and two-thirds in the books, striking out two and walking three with one earned run charged against him.
Offensively, almost everyone got a hit and four players got two hits. Krier, Van Veldhuizen, Landon Hunolt, and Ethan Christ each got two, with Van Veldhuizen collecting a triple on the day. He also led the team by driving in four runs. Miller drove in two as did Butler and Colin Snitker. The team hit .462 in the second contest, collecting 12 hits and committing three errors.
The end of the week saw the rivalry with Pella renewed as the Dutch came to Oskaloosa for a pair. Two close games saw Osky end the week on a high note with two wins.
Krier took a lead off walk and Van Veldhuizen would drive him home with a single after Krier stole second and go to third on a wild pitch. That would be all that Tyler Miller would need as he threw five sensational innings. Giving up only one hit, the senior struck out nine and only walked two and he mowed down the Dutch. Picking up the win Miller threw 87 pitches while Krier would pitch the six and seventh frames, also giving up only one hit while collecting four strikeouts.
Miller scored the second run after a single got him aboard and Van Veldhuizn batted him in with a double. Making it 2-0 after three, Osky would score the final run in the bottom of the fifth. Krier got a single and Fresquez would pinch run for him. Getting to second, he went to third on a ground out by Miller and scored on a passed ball. Three runs on four hits got the win in the books for Oskaloosa. The team also committed two errors. Noah led the team with two hits and two RBIs.
Game two took a little while to get going from the plate as both teams had zeros after three. Van Veldhuizen got the ball to start the game and again had the number of the visiting line up. Giving up only two hits in five and a third, he fanned seven and walked two. After setting the Dutch down in the fourth, the pitcher turned to being a slugger as he obliterated one to left field to put the Indians on the board. The team would get behind him in the bottom of the fifth as well.
A single by Charlie North and a walk issued to Miller set up Noah but a wild pitch advanced the runners and so the Dutch put the pitcher on first to load the bases. Colton Butler belted one to right center that skipped over the fence for a ground rule double to make it 3-0. Hildenbrand then put a slow roller close to first base and the Pella pitcher and first baseman flubbed the easy out as the two runners aboard scored to make it 5-0.
Pella got one in the seventh make it a 5-1 final. North had two singles to lead the team while Butler’s two RBIs paced the squad. Krier and Wilcox combined to give up three hits, with Wilcox striking out two and Krier one as they combined to finish the game. Oskaloosa scored five runs on five hits and committed no errors.
Standings – DCG sits on top by three games over Osky. Indianola is tied for third with Norwalk and Pella. Pella Christian, Grinnell, and then Newton round out the table.
Stat Leaders – Van Veldhuizen has the most hits with 13 and best batting average at .406. He and Butler have 11 RBIs to lead the team. Miller also has the most steals and is a perfect 6-6 so far in that department. For the pitchers, they are led in ERA by Czerwinski at 0.47. Noah Van Veldhuizen paces the squad with 21 Ks to his name while Miller is 3-0 on the year so far.
The week ahead – Week three will see the Indians take on Indianola at 7:30 Monday before a game against EBF at 5:30 Tuesday. Wednesday is an away trip to Pella Christian for two games and the pre-holiday game on Friday will be at Grinnell at 7:30.
