In a doubleheader you heard on the Mahaska Zone Network, the Oskaloosa baseball team showed its resiliency in a split with Newton.
Game 1 got off to an inauspicious start with Newton scoring a couple of runs on misplayed balls in the first inning before Oskaloosa even had a chance to bat. In the second inning, however, the Indians were able to scratch across a couple of runs of their own against Cardinal right-hander Connor Gholson, who had an ERA under 1 entering the game. The teams exchanged quick innings until the fifth, when Newton had a two-out rally against Oskaloosa starter TJ Boyle, sending 10 batters to the plate and plating four runs to take a 6-2 lead. Oskaloosa would not go quietly, though, as in the sixth, the bottom of the Indian order scratched across three runs. The big hits came from Mitchell Schaffner with a single and Bennett Spry with a sacrifice fly, who each drove in a run. In the 7th, Newton plated what appeared to be a huge insurance run to take a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the inning, but Oskaloosa again would put up a fight. Down to his last strike with runners on first and second, Mitchell Schaffner lined a double down the left field line to bring the Indians within one. Next up was freshman Alex DeJong, and he came through with a single up the middle to tie the game. A couple of batters later, TJ Boyle came up and launched a ball to the wall in left-center field to score Schaffner for the win, a huge come-from-behind confidence builder for Coach Clint Gingerich and the squad.
Unfortunately, Osky was unable to capitalize on that momentum, as Newton’s Tyler Wood threw a two-hit shutout and got the win 3-0. The Cardinals plated one run in the first, but squandered a couple of bases loaded opportunities in the middle innings before scoring a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh.
After the doubleheader, Oskaloosa is 15-5 on the year, and 9-4 in the conference. The Indians do play conference-leading Pella at home in a doubleheader next Monday, and should the Indians win both of those games, they would be tied in the loss column with the Dutch in the conference race. Newton is also hanging around in that race, sitting at 13-7 overall and 7-4 in the conference.
The Indians are on the road at Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont tonight, starting at 7:30.
