Newton baseball opens season with walk-off win over Marshalltown

Newton and Marshalltown went back-and-forth in their season-opening baseball game on Tuesday night. And the team which batted last had a big advantage.

The host Cardinals plated four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and scored a 6-5 walk-off win over the Bobcats on Administration Appreciation Night at Woodland Park.

Newton lost a 1-0 lead, rallied from down 2-1 and trailed 5-2 in the top of the seventh before rallying one final time in the last half of the seventh.

“I’m happy for the kids,” Newton baseball coach Brad Kahler said. “I just want to play well, and I thought we did for six innings. The little things we did added up and the attitudes trumped everything.”

Newton won just three games the past two seasons but are 1-0 in 2021 after Kahler claimed a win in his Cardinals’ coaching debut.

Braydon Chance got the first hit of the season for Newton and finished 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs. He scored in the second on a wild pitch to make it 1-0.

Marshalltown tied the game in the fourth and went up 2-1 in the fifth. The Cardinals drew back even in the bottom of the fifth.

The Bobcats, whose head coach is former Newton Cardinal Derek Wrage, plated three runs in the seventh to go up 5-2. Only two of the three runs were earned and Newton got out of the jam when Tade Vanderlaan induced an inning-ending double play.

In the bottom of the seventh, Brody Bauer reached on an error and Evan Grimm and Kacey Sommars loaded the bases with back-to-back walks.

Chance’s two-run single made it 5-4 and Turner Williams’ RBI single tied the game at 5-all.

Riley Mouchka, who started the game on the mound, struck out in his first two at-bats. He was pulled for a pinch hitter after that but Kahler let him hit in the bottom of the seventh and he put the ball in play, forcing Marshalltown (0-3) to make an error and allowing the game-winning run to score.

Mouchka pitched the first 5 1/3 innings and Kahler pulled him because he reached his pitch count limit. He allowed two runs — one earned — on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks. He also got out of a bases-loaded, no one out situation in the first with double play.

“I was really proud of his effort,” Kahler said. “I probably would have kept him in if he wasn’t at his pitch count limit.”

Vanderlaan recorded his first varsity win after tossing the final 1 2/3 innings. He allowed three runs — two earned — on four hits with two strikeouts and one walk.

Newton hitters struck out 10 times, including eight of them looking. But Grimm walked twice and scored two runs, Drew Thompson drew two walks and had one hit and Sommars and Williams each had one hit, one walk and one RBI.