Indian Baseball Looking For Consistency Go 3-3 This Week.
Freshman Peyton Crouse pitched 7 innings against Albia, helping the Indians score an important victory on the season.
The Oskaloosa baseball team was looking to start the week off on a good note as they welcomed the Newton Cardinals to town for a Little Hawkeye Conference double header. The name of the game was to find more consistency and look to climb in the conference standings.
In the opener the Indians had Jr. TJ Boyle go to the mound, looking to shut down the Cardinals. He found the going rough as he went 3 innings, giving up 6 hits and 4 runs, while walking 2. Meanwhile, the Indian bats were not responding. They managed RBI singles from So. Joe Sterner and Jr. Colton Swanson. The rest of the bats went pretty quietly as the Indians fell in the first game 5-4.
In the second game Osky went to Sr. Jesse Van Dalen, looking to get things back on track, and he turned in a workman like performance. He went 6 innings and allowed just 4 hits, while giving up 1 earned run and 3 walks, while striking out 4 Cardinal hitters. He turned the ball over to “Mr. Everything”, Sr. Nick Rutledge, and he shut the door in the top of the 7th, as the Indians salvaged the split with a 4-2 win.
Leading the Osky hitting attack was Rutledge going 2-4 with an RBI and a stolen base. Fr. Bennett Spry came up with a good night at the plate, going 2-3 while driving in 2. He also had a stolen base.
Tuesday night brought the Albia Blue Demons to town. Having lost the season opener to the Blue Demons, the Osky boys were just looking to compete this time around. Albia beat the Indians soundly in the first game.
What the Indians received was perhaps the biggest shot in the arm they could have asked for, which came in the form of Fr. Peyton Crouse. Crouse proceeded to go all 7 innings, allowing a potent Albia offense only 4 hits, giving up 1 run and striking out 1 for the Indian victory 4-1.
Coach Gingrich was very pleased with the freshman’s performance as he noted Peyton was hitting his spots and had his breaking pitch working very well. “We couldn’t have asked for more out of him tonight,” remarked Coach Gingrich.
Crouse also helped out at the plate, going 1-2. Sr. Travis Gile went 2-2 with an RBI, Sr. Nick Rutledge was 2-3 with 2 stolen bases; as the senior continues to swipe bases at will this season.
Jr. Nate Van Veldhuizen has been coming up with some huge hits, as he went 1-3 with a big double and 2 RBI. Jr. Mitchell Schaffner also had an RBI to round out the scoring for the Indians.
Wednesday night the Indians traveled to Norwalk to take on league leading Warriors, who came in 9-0 in the Little Hawkeye Conference. Osky went to their ace Sr. Nick Rutledge and he was his usual dominate self on a very hot and humid night. Rutledge led the Indians to the upset 4-1.
The win keeps the Indians within earshot of the Warriors, as they still have 2 games against each other later in the season. Rutledge went 7 innings, giving up 5 hits and 1 run while walking 2 and striking out 5.
Once again it was a familiar sight on offense as Rutledge was 2-3 and Juniors Colton Swanson and Nate Van Veldhuizen had big RBI doubles for the Indian win. “We made plays and had a solid performance out of Nick and some timely hits,” Gingrich said. It was a huge road win over a good team.
Coming into Friday night’s double header with Pella, the Indians were looking to get some revenge on the Little Dutch for the earlier season loss they suffered in Pella. Wanting to get off to a good start against their rival they found just the opposite, as Osky was just play and not ready to play and lost the first game by the mercy run rule 11-1. The Indians fell short in the second game 5-4.
Osky just couldn’t find a way to get over bad base running and errors, along with Pella taking advantage of walks and hit batters.
On the night Osky saw good solid pitching come from Seniors Jesse Van Dalen and Nick Rutledge, but for the most part the Osky bats were silent only having 7 hits between both games. Having RBI’s for Oskaloosa were Rutledge, So. Wade Votroubek and Fr. Bennett Spry.
Osky is looking to get back to the winning way Monday as they travel to Knoxville for a JV/V double header in Little Hawkeye Conference action.
The Indians are now 10-7 on the season.
