Baxter baseball rallies past rival Colo-NESCO

BAXTER — Sophomore Aiden Johnson did not get a hit in his first four at-bats against Colo-NESCO on Friday night.

So when the game was on the line in the ninth inning, Royals head baseball coach Brandon Frohwein decided to walk Cael Wishman to pitch to Johnson.

On the first pitch of the at-bat, Johnson laced an RBI single to right-center field and Cael Shepley’s winning run sent the Bolts to a 6-5 home win over Colo-NESCO during an Iowa Star Conference matchup.

“I have a ton of confidence in him. He’s been hitting the ball better lately,” Baxter head baseball coach Jeremiah Moffit said about Johnson. “I know he had a few rough at-bats tonight before that, but I still knew he could come back and work through that.”

Baxter rallied from a 5-1 deficit to force extra innings. The victory completed the season sweep over the Royals.

Johnson wasn’t the only Baxter player to bounce back after a rough start.

The Royals plated three runs in the second and one each in the fourth and fifth to go up 5-1. The Bolts also lost starting outfielder Jake Travis to an ejection late in the game.

That forced Moffit to switch things up when it came to his pitching staff.

Shepley started and tossed the first three innings. Colton Moffit pitched the fourth, fifth and sixth and Travis got the ball for the seventh.

After the ejection, Coach Moffit went back to Shepley and he finished off the victory with a pair of scoreless frames.

“We just used (Shepley) on (June 5) for 90 pitches,” Coach Moffit said. “I just didn’t want to overuse him. I was expecting to give him about three innings and then go to Colton and finish with JT.

“Obviously the plans changed and we went back to (Shepley) because I thought he was the right guy for the job in that spot.”

Baxter got on the scoreboard in the third. Shepley walked, stole second, took third on an error and then scored on Perrin Sulzle’s RBI ground out to second base.

Trailing 5-1 through six, the Bolts (6-6 overall, 4-5 in the conference) scored four in the seventh to tie the score and extend the game.

Ben Richardson reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on a wild pitch. Sulzle’s RBI single and Wishman’s RBI double closed the gap even more and then Sulzle scored the tying run on an error.

The Bolts’ night included six hits, eight walks and seven steals but they also struck out 11 times.

“I feel like we had opportunities and had guys on base,” Coach Moffit said. “I felt like we could break through if we kept working and finally we did.

“We are doing a great job of being aggressive at the plate and we’ve already exceeded our stolen base number from last year.”

Baxter nearly won the game in the bottom of the eighth. With runners in scoring position, Frohwein intentionally walked Damman to pitch to freshman Trevor Hamilton, who entered after Travis’ ejection. The Royals got out of the jam with a strikeout, but Coach Moffit was glad Hamilton got the experience. It was just his third official varsity at-bat of the season.

“That’s why we play the game. We play the game because we get to experience those kinds of opportunities,” Coach Moffit said. “I’m glad he got to experience that earlier than we expected him to, and I think he can learn a lot from that experience.”

In the ninth, Shepley walked for the fourth time in the game and then stole second. He went to third on Sulzle’s ground out to first and scored on Johnson’s RBI single.

“I was trying to get a base hit and I got a fastball on the first pitch,” Johnson said. “It feels really good knowing we can come back from something like that. No matter what happens, we are never out of it.”

Wishman led the Bolts with two hits, one double, two RBIs and one walk, Damman added one hit, one run, one walk and three steals and he was hit by one pitch and Shepley walked four times, scored three runs and stole three bases.

Shepley leads the team with 13 walks this summer and Damman has a team-best 15 steals.

Sulzle tallied one hit, one run and two RBIs, Johnson collected one hit and one RBI, Colton Moffit and Kolton Hill walked once and Travis was hit by a pitch.

Shepley (2-3) earned the win on the mound after tossing five innings. He allowed three runs — none earned — on two hits and struck out seven, walked three and hit one batter.

Colton Moffit’s three innings featured two earned runs on four hits with three strikeouts and one walk and Travis walked one, allowed one hit and struck out one in the seventh.

The Bolts were out-hit 7-6 and committed two errors.

“We’ve been preaching working through adversity all year long,” Coach Moffit said. “We’ve made good progress with that. It’s just a matter of believing in ourselves. I think we have the talent to push over the top.”

Isaac Harrington led Colo-NESCO (6-9, 4-4) with three hits and two RBIs and Drew Banks allowed one earned run on two hits and struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings on the mound.

Dunkerton 7, Baxter 6

BAXTER — Damman and Travis each collected two hits and Hill registered three RBIs, but the Bolts couldn’t hold an early lead during a 7-6 home loss to Dunkerton in Iowa Star Conference action on Wednesday.

Baxter led 3-0 after two innings, but the Raiders rallied by scoring all seven of their runs in the final four frames. Dunkerton plated three in the top of the seventh to take the lead for good.

The Bolts’ 3-0 lead lasted until Dunkerton scored one run each in the fourth and fifth. Both teams scored two runs in the sixth and Baxter added one in the seventh but fell short.

Dunkerton out-hit Baxter 11-8 and won the game despite committing five errors.

Damman registered two doubles, scored two runs and stole one base and he was hit by one pitch, Travis had two hits, one double, two RBIs and one steal and Richardson, Shepley, Johnson and Hill had the other hits.

Hill drove in three runs and stole one base, Johnson added one run and one stolen base, Richardson scored one run and Shepley had one RBI.

Sulzle scored one run and stole two bases and Wishman was hit by one pitch, scored one run and stole one base.

Damman (0-2) took the loss on the mound after pitching all seven innings. He allowed seven runs — six earned — on 11 hits and struck out eight while walking two.

Dunkerton (4-5, 4-3) was led by Jacob Snyder, who finished with three hits, two runs and three RBIs. Mason Michels added two hits and two RBIs and Ledger Dalton collected two hits and two runs.

North Tama 10, Baxter 0, five innings

TRAER — Baxter had more errors (5) than hits (2) during its Iowa Star Conference South Division matchup with North Tama on Monday.

The Bolts fell behind 1-0 in the first, and the Redhawks ended the game after five during a 10-0 home win.

North Tama plated four runs in the fourth and five in the fifth to end things early.

Richardson and Johnson had the Bolts’ hits. Richardson also walked once, was hit by a pitch and stole one base and Johnson was hit by a pitch.

Travis was hit by two pitches and he stole one base, Moffit drew three walks and Damman and Shepley both walked once.

Shepley and Travis split the pitching duties. Shepley allowed five runs — two earned — on three hits, and he struck out five, walked five and hit one batter and Travis surrendered five runs — four earned — on six hits and he walked one.

The Bolts collected two hits and committed five errors.

Colt Knack scored three runs and walked four times, Michael Schrier had three hits and three RBIs and Ryan Hosek collected two hits and scored two runs to lead North Tama (6-5, 6-4).

Henry Hansen pitched six innings, got the win and allowed no runs on two hits and struck out seven, walked six and hit four batters.