March 29, 2024

Wood, Cardinals shut out Pella for a doubleheader split

PELLA — Tyler Wood threw his second one-hitter for Newton’s Cardinals in a 2-0 win Monday against host Pella. The Cardinals played two different types of games in the Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader.

In the opener, Newton struggled at the plate and in the field, losing 9-3. The Cardinal defense made three errors behind starting pitcher Chandler Sturtz and three other pitchers. They were behind the Little Dutch 6-1 after two innings and had six hits in the game.

Wood took the mound in the second contest. Wood (4-3) didn’t have as good as command of his pitches as in his 5-1 win over Grinnell on June 13 when he carried a no-hitter into the seventh. He worked out of tough situations in the first three innings against Pella then had two 1-2-3 innings.

Wood struck out 11 Pella batters, but issued six walks in the contest. The lone hit by the Little Dutch came with one gone in the second inning when Marcus Wittmer singled to left field.

Newton produced a run in the first inning. Sturtz singled and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Wood. A passed ball allowed Sturtz to advance to third base and with two gone, Evan Shimon drove in the run with a base hit to left field.

Shimon drew a walk in the top of the sixth. Connor Gholson went in as courtesy runner for Shimon and ended up at third on an error by Pella. Mike McCormick delivered an RBI single to put the Cardinals up 2-0.

Wood worked around a leadoff walk in the sixth by striking out the side. Again, in the seventh, Wood issued a walk to start the inning. He fanned the next two Pella batters and then got Tanner Wood to ground out to him at the mound for the final out of the game.

Wood has a .70 earned runner average for the Cardinals. He leads the team with 54 strikeouts.

In the win, Sturtz, Jordan Travis, Shimon, Derek Wrage, McCormick and Jeff Stanton each had a single for Newton. The Cardinals stranded six base runners.

Sturtz pitched three innings for Newton in the opener Monday night. He was charged with six runs on five hits and two walks and had one strikeout. Michael Barr pitched one inning and had a strikeout. McCormick threw one inning, giving up one hit and walking one. Stanton pitched the sixth inning, allowing three runs on two hits and one walk and recording a strikeout.

Two of the three Newton errors came in the first two innings against Pella. The Little Dutch scored two runs in the first and four in the second for the 6-1 lead.

Newton scored its run in the second when Wrage walked to start the inning. Barr singled with one out and Stanton worked a base-on-balls to load the bases. Sturtz walked with two gone to force in a run.

The Cardinals loaded the bases again in the sixth. Barr and Bryce Tish drew walks and Wood singled. Barr scored on a passed ball and Tish came in when Travis reached safely on a fielder’s choice.

Pella answered by scoring three runs in the its half of the sixth to increase its lead to 9-3.

Wood went 3-for-4 with three singles in the game. Wrage hit two base hits and Barr singled.

The Cardinals improved to 9-10 in Little Hawkeye Conference play and 11-17 overall. They wrap up conference action Thursday in a make-up doubleheader at Grinnell.

Newton dropped a 8-4 non-conference decision to host Southeast Polk on July 3. Wrage, Travis, Barr and Wood all took turns on the mound in the contest. They combined to allow 12 hits and issued four walks.

The Cardinals led the Rams 4-2 going into the bottom of the sixth. Southeast Polk scored six runs in the inning to gain the lead and take the win.

Wrage connected for two singles in the game. Sturtz and Wood each had a double. Tish and McCormick had a single apiece.