SPORTS
CONTACT: Jocelyn Sheets • jsheets@newtondailynews.com
June 30, 2015
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Newton Daily News
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Newton registers split with Indians By Troy Hyde Newton Daily News OSKALOOSA — The Newton baseball team earned a two-game split with Oskaloosa during Little Hawkeye Conference play on Monday. The Cardinals let leads of 6-2 and 7-5 slip away but a two-hitter on the mound by Tyler Wood in the nightcap led the Cardinals to a 3-0 win after losing the opener 8-7. “I am glad we came back and got a win in the second game, but it would have been nice to return with a sweep,” Newton coach Dustin Brisel said. “We’ll take it though.” Wood threw his best game of the season in game two. He surrendered just two hits and walked three while striking out five. The Cardinals led 1-0 after six innings but added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh following back-to-back doubles by Duncan Lee and Jeff Stanton. “That was the best he has looked all year by far,” Brisel said of Wood’s pitching performance. “Everything was working tonight. He hit his spots and threw very well.” The Cardinals managed only four hits of their own in the game two win. Stanton led the way with a hit, a run and two walks. Lee had a hit, a run and an RBI, while Michael Barr had one hit and two walks. Drew Stout also had a hit and scored a run. CARDINALS | 3B
Jocelyn Sheets/Daily News Newton senior Tyler Wood threw a two-hitter against Oskaloosa on Monday and the Cardinals split two games versus the Indians. Newton lost game one 8-7 but rallied to win the nightcap, 3-0.
Raiders use small ball to prevail over Tigerhawks By Troy Hyde Newton Daily News COLLINS — Losers of nine in a row, the Collins-Maxwell/Baxter baseball team was willing to try anything to get back into the win column Monday against Colfax-Mingo. And prior to batting practice Monday, the Raiders had a players-only meeting to figure out how to break through with a win. Whatever was said behind the scenes must have helped some because CMB managed to claim a 4-1 win despite collecting just one hit at the plate. Colfax-Mingo junior Colin Lourens allowed a hit to Hunter McWhirter in the second inning, but all four runs scored against the Tigerhawks’ ace came on outs or a wild pitch. CMB got four strong innings from Seth Balke and three powerful innings of relief from Brady Stover as the Raider duo held the Tigerhawks to one hit and one walk and two other C-M base runners reached on errors. “I don’t ever remember winning a game with just one hit,” CMB coach Max Seeman said. “It comes down to executing with guys in scoring position. Sometimes you just have to put the ball in play. That’s what happened tonight.” With both teams throwing their top pitchers, a low
Troy Hyde/Daily News Collins-Maxwell/Baxter freshman Carter Fricke, right, slides safely into third base in front of the tag of Colfax-Mingo freshman Jarod Nichols during the second inning of the Raiders’ 4-1 win over the Tigerhawks on Monday. Fricke walked twice in three at-bats in the victory.
scoring affair was certainly possible. Lourens was making his second start of the season, and he improved his mechanics from his first outing and did what he could to keep Colfax-Mingo in the game. He allowed one hit, walked five, hit CMB’s Creighton Caple twice and allowed three earned runs in dropping to 0-2. “I felt good about what he was doing. He didn’t have his mechanics where they needed to be in his first start of the season but
he figured it out tonight,” Colfax-Mingo coach Seth Milledge said. The Tigerhawks (2-17 overall, 0-14 in HOIC) and Raiders split two games last year. Lourens was the winning pitcher in the C-M victory and he allowed two hits in that one. Balke was the losing pitcher, but Milledge said he saw a different pitcher Monday. “I thought we would hit Balke a little better than we did, but he has gotten a lot better from last year,” Milledge said. “His command is a lot better. We got
on him last year and won here. Colin threw a 2-hitter in that game. I feel good about what we did and I think we are two evenly matched teams.” The Raiders (6-12, 6-8) did not have the services of five starters and six total players last week during a large portion of the ninegame losing streak. Brad Ritter, Spencer Gauch, Brady Kemp, Nate Bishop and Brady Ross were among the players who were on a missions trip last SMALL | 3B
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This & That
Back from vacation and to reality of the grind It’s not often sports writers can find too many gaps for vacation days throughout the year. If we wait until the seasons are not going, the options are very limited. That didn’t sit well with my wife’s family when we were all trying to decide when to go on our bi-annual vacation. My pick was end of July and early August right after summer sports end and just before fall sports begin. That wasn’t a popular choice with the family, and it was a By Troy Hyde more difficult time to Newton Daily reserve rooms at the News timeshare in our de- Sports Writer sired location. So, like in most situations, the wife’s wishes won out. So for two days last week and last weekend, I was MIA from work. And this week, the boss is out of town. Don’t worry, we’ll be back at it as a team and ready to rock and roll when the postseason begins next week. I can’t say I feel refreshed. Four days isn’t a ton of time but it was good to get away and just detach from my every day life. We were able to take our 2.5-yearold daughter to the Dixie Stampede, which is Dolly Parton’s dinner show in Branson. It was a good family show and as long my daughter enjoys it, then it’s a successful night to me. We also got to cruise around the city in limo. That wasn’t as fun as I had hoped but mainly because the air wasn’t working right. And it was way hotter in Branson than it was in Iowa. The final full day I was in town, we hit up Table Rock Lake and rented a boat. That was really fun. And my arm strength got put to the test when I decided to jump on a tube a couple times. What a blast that was. The family got to stay until Saturday, but I left Wednesday to return home. And as fun as vacation is, I was happy to be back. I enjoy normal life and don’t like to veer too far away from my routine. I was bummed on Friday when my first chance to see the Newton baseball team and former player now head coach Dustin Brisel was rained out. I’ll get the chance to see the Cardinals at their doubleheader this week. That will take me down memory lane a bit as I spent a good two-plus years covering the team when Brisel was playing. There’s a game every night somewhere to cover this week. But things are always much more challenging when it’s just one person handling all the duties. Wish me luck. As someone who has followed the NBA since I was in high school, I was excited to see my Minnesota Timberwolves put together a package that got them two first-round picks at last week’s draft. I like Karl-Anthony Towns and, as someone who has rooted for Duke basketball since he was in grade school. I really liked the Tyus Jones pick. I think the Wolves got two players who want to be in Minnesota and are paired with two other stars in Andrew Wiggins and Ricky Rubio who are anxious to turn the franchise around. Get ready. the Wolves will be relevant again. Maybe not next year but soon. LeBron James opted out of his contract with the Cavaliers. Don’t make too much of that though. He’s not going anywhere. I didn’t think Kevin Love would stay in Cleveland, but after him and LeBron met out in California last week, it looks like I could be wrong. I would like to see what the Cavs can do in the playoffs with a healthy James, Love and Kyrie Irving. That should be interesting to watch if Love decides to stay. Hopefully we get some games in this week. The rain hasn’t been too kind lately. The farmers aren’t happy I am sure. There is a such thing, to me, as too much rain. We are at that point.