Indians Advance To Face Solon On Monday
by Jamie Brockman
It wasn’t the prettiest win ever, but the Oskaloosa baseball team beat Nevada 8-4 to open up District play in Class 3A Friday night.
The win improved Oskaloosa to 22-10 on the season, and the Indians now prepare to host Solon in the District final Monday night, after Solon hammered Pella 13-0 to advance.
Coach Bill Almond had to adjust his usual line up quite a bit and used three pitchers to get the win. Wyatt Krier started the game and pitched two and one-third innings. Krier struggled a bit with his control, allowing three runs on two hits with three strikeouts, walked three in the third inning. Freshman Jarrett Czerwinski pitched in relief and got the final two outs. He hit the first batter in the fourth inning, and Coach Almond then gave the ball to Noah Van Veldhuizen. Van Veldhuizen was on fire on the mound for the final four innings. He allowed just one unearned run on two hits while striking out nine of the fifteen batters he faced, walking none. Czerwinski was credited with the win as he was the pitcher on record when Oskaloosa took their lead in the bottom of the third inning.
Oskaloosa scored one run in the first inning on one hit and two Nevada errors. Krier reached on an error to lead off the inning, then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. He scored on a sac fly to left field by Tyler Miller. The Indians added two more in the second inning when freshman Charlie North drew a one-out walk and later scored on an RBI single from freshman Carson Genskow. Genskow then scored on an RBI single from Nik Dykstra to put the Indians ahead 3-0 after two innings.
Things got a bit crazy in the top of the third when Nevada sent nine batters to the plate, using two hits and four walks to score three runs and tie the game.
Oskaloosa fired right back, scoring two in the bottom of the third when Colton Butler led off with a double, his second of the game. Butler then advanced to third on a sac bunt from Rian Yates. With one out, Noah Van Veldhuizen drilled a triple to center field scoring Butler, then Charlie North hit an RBI single scoring Van Veldhuizen, and the Indians took a 5-3 lead.
Osky added another in the fourth when Dykstra drew a leadoff walk, stole second, then scored on an RBI single from Tyler Miller extending their lead to 6-3.
Van Veldhuizen led off the fifth inning with a double followed by a single from Cole Kraber and both later scored. Nevada scored one in the seventh inning on one hit and one error, but it wasn’t enough as the Cubs ended their season 7-21 overall.
At the plate, Butler was 2-3 with two doubles and a walk. Van Veldhuizen went 2-3 with a triple, double and an RBI. Krier, Miller, North, Genskow, and Dykstra each had one hit and one RBI.
Oskaloosa scored eight runs on ten hits, committed two errors and left four on base. Nevada scored four runs on four hits, committed four errors and stranded seven runners.
The Indians will look for their fifth straight District title when they host Solon Monday at 7 pm. You can hear Monday’s game with Jamie Brockman and Doug Dekock on Osky News Live powered by Thunder Country KIIC with pre-game starting at 6:45 pm.
