December 18, 2024

Newton baseball mired in losing stretch, can’t get things kickstarted

By Jocelyn Sheets

Newton High junior Ryan Barr swings to make contact in a home game earlier this season. Newton is struggling at the plate. It had five hits in 12-2 five inning loss at Bondurant-Farrar on Tuesday. (Jocelyn Sheets)

BONDURANT — Searching for a solution has been frustrating for Newton High head baseball coach Dustin Brisel and his Cardinal players. The Cardinals are not hitting the baseball and mired in a 1-8 start to the 2018 season.

“Instead of making plays tonight, we had errors defensively and our pitching was not at our best. That on top of not hitting the ball just compounded the frustration we all have,” Brisel said.

Newton finished a weather-interrupted game against host Bondurant-Farrar from May 29 on Tuesday. The Bluejays used an eight-run third inning to claim a five-inning, run-rule win, 12-2, over the Cardinals.

The Cardinals came up with five hits and scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. But in the third inning defensively, Newton had an error and issued five walks leading to the eight Jay runs.

“It was a rough night all the way around. We have things we have to clean up as we going into games the rest of the week,” Brisel said. “We’re encouraging the guys to just relax and play the game.”

Trailing 8-0, Newton senior Logan Wolfe singled with one out in the fourth inning but was out at second on a fielder’s choice hit by senior Trevor Ergenbright. Senior Ryan Barr reached on an error, allowing Ergenbright to score.

Bondurant-Farrar used a double and a single with two outs in the bottom of the fourth to push a run across. The Bluejays had six doubles among their nine hits.

Junior Ben Leal led off the fifth inning for Newton with a double of his own. Sophomore Taylor Danley delivered a one-out base hit and sophomore Julian Hotchkin came up with an RBI single with two gone.

Bondurant-Farrar used three straight doubles following a Newton error to score three runs in the bottom of the fifth to win by the 10-run rule.

Leal pitched 2 1/3 innings for Newton, allowing six runs on three hits and three walks. He struck out one. Hotchkin worked 1 2/3 innings, giving up six runs on six hits and three walks.

Leal doubled for Newton. Hotchkin, Wolfe, Barr and Danley each had a single.

Newton steps back into Little Hawkeye Conference play on Wednesday. The Cardinals carry a 0-4 LHC record into a doubleheader starting at 5:30 p.m. at Pella.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com