Indians Drop Out Of Lead To Norwalk

by Jamie Brockman

The Oskaloosa baseball team dropped a heartbreaker at Norwalk Wednesday night falling 6-3, snapping a four-game win streak and a stretch where the Indians had won 13 of the last 15 games. The Indians also fall from the lead in the LHC.

The game started strong with Oskaloosa jumping to a 3-0 lead after three innings with their top pitcher Rian Yates on the hill, but things went south from there as Osky only managed one base runner the final four innings and untimely defensive mistakes gave Norwalk all the momentum.

Oskaloosa scored two runs on three hits in the first inning as Tyler Miller and Colton Butler both had one-out singles and Noah Van Veldhuizen ripped a two-RBI single. Osky went down in order in the second inning. Norwalk threatened in the bottom of the second with runners at second and third with only one out, but couldn’t produce a run. The Indians added another run in the third inning on a double from Wyatt Krier an RBI single from Butler. Norwalk again threatened in the bottom of the third loading the bases with two outs, but again produced no runs.

Norwalk tied the game with three runs in the fourth inning starting with four straight singles from the bottom of their batting order and sent eight batters to the plate against Yates. With the game tied 3-3, Noah Van Veldhuizen came into pitch starting the fifth inning and retired the Warriors in order, but the sixth inning was the difference maker.

Van Veldhuizen opened the inning hitting Christian Nicholson on the first pitch. Nicholson then stole second, but the throw down from catcher Charlie North sailed into center field and Nicholson moved to third. The next batter drew a four-pitch walk putting the eight and nine hitters on first and third with no outs. Van Veldhuizen then fanned the next two batters. With a 3-2 count on Sebastian Hutson, the Indians were a strike away from getting out of the inning, but following a foul ball, Van Veldhuizen was called for a balk scoring the go ahead run for Norwalk.

You may recall last week at Grinnell, the same thing happened, also in the bottom of the sixth inning with Van Veldhuizen on the mound giving Grinnell a 4-3 win. A frustrated Van Veldhuizen then walked Hutson and the next batter loading the bases for Jacob Joss who ripped a two-RBI single into right field putting Norwalk ahead 6-3. Coach Bill Almond then brought in Kale Bollinger to pitch and he struck out Tucker Christensen to end the sixth inning. Norwalk retired the Indians in order in the top of the seventh for the third straight inning to end the game.

Van Veldhuizen suffered the loss pitching one and two-thirds innings, allowing three runs on only one hit with three walks and four strikeouts. Yates went four innings allowing three runs on seven hits with one walk and three strikeouts and Bolinger struck out the only batter he faced. Shane Geurink pitched all seven innings for Norwalk to get the win allowing three runs on six hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

Norwalk scored six runs on eight hits , committed no errors and stranded nine base runners. Oskaloosa scored three runs on six hits, committed three errors and stranded two base runners.
The Indians entered Wednesday leading D-C-G by one half game in the LHC , but with D-C-G beating Indianola 8-2 they regain the top spot in the conference by one half game over the Indians. The loss drops Oskaloosa to 16-6 overall and 11-5 in conference play while Norwalk improved to 10-11 overall and 8-6 in LHC play. Norwalk also wins the season series 2-1 over Oskaloosa. The Indians will look to bounce back when they travel to Pella for a doubleheader Friday night.

Posted by on Jun 27 2019. Filed under School Activities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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