PCM baseball uses two late runs to sneak past Colfax-Mingo

URBANDALE — On a night when hits were hard to come by, the PCM baseball team’s defense was just a little better than Colfax-Mingo.

The Mustangs and Tigerhawks each were limited to one hit, but two C-M errors in the sixth inning allowed PCM to plate the game’s only runs during a 2-0 victory in Class 2A District 14 quarterfinal action at Des Moines Christian High School on Saturday.

“We’ve won a few games this year with not very many hits,” said PCM senior Gavin Fenton, who was on base three times. “We hit the ball, but there were a lot of pop flys.”

Each team started a left-handed pitcher.

Colfax-Mingo’s Cael Bracewell went the distance and allowed just one hit and he struck out eight. One of the two runs he allowed in the sixth was unearned and he hit two batters.

PCM’s Trenner Van Dyke was just as impressive in his five innings. He was taken out in a scoreless game, but he surrendered no runs and only one hit. He walked one and fanned eight.

The strategy for PCM head baseball coach Lewis Daye was to use Van Dyke and reliever Zeb Padget but limit them enough to keep them available for their next postseason game.

“The plan was to be able to have our top three pitchers for Wednesday,” Daye said. “They both did their jobs. It was a strong performance by both guys. They did exactly what we wanted them to do.”

The Mustangs advance to face 2A No. 10 Pleasantville (27-6) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Pleasantville.

The first game that night will feature Williamsburg and East Marshall, which upset Des Moines Christian 5-3 in the late game Saturday.

Fenton led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk and then pinch-runner Coby DeRaad stole second base.

Nick Farver grounded into a fielder’s choice though as DeRaad slipped running around third base and was thrown out trying to come back to the bag.

Bracewell got out of the first frame after a fly ball to right field and a strikeout. He retired the Mustangs in order in the second and fanned the side in the third.

The Tigerhawk junior faced no more than four Mustangs in an inning until the sixth. Fenton reached on an error in the third and Alex Wendt was hit by a pitch in the fifth.

PCM’s first and only hit of the game came in the sixth after Fenton led off the frame with an infield single.

After pinch-runner DeRaad was called safe at second base due to an obstruction call, he scored the game’s first run on an error by Colfax-Mingo.

Farver took second following the throwing error, stole third and then scored on a throwing error to third.

“I’m proud of our defensive effort. We made some plays we hadn’t made before,” Colfax-Mingo head baseball coach Joss Teed said. “We just made too many mistakes in the sixth inning. One or two plays didn’t work out for us and that was the ball game.

“This one kind of summed up our season. We should have had a handful more wins and we probably should have won this one. We just didn’t make enough plays late in the game.”

Van Dyke was in control during his five innings. He fanned the first two batters he faced, struck out the final two hitters in the second and retired two Tigerhawks by strikeout in the fourth.

Van Dyke’s only two blemishes were a one-out walk to Andrew Hunter in the second and a one-out single to Colton Edwards in the fourth.

“After the top four in their lineup, the game plan was to just let the defense make plays,” Fenton said. “We mixed in some curve balls every now and then to those top four guys.”

Padget (4-3) relieved Van Dyke in the sixth and got the win. He walked Bracewell with one out in the sixth and then Nathan Sloan reached on an error. But he got out of trouble after inducing a pair of ground balls.

Padget hit Konner Dalton with a pitch with one out in the seventh but struck out the next two to end the game.

“They just keep fighting, and we got better as the year went on,” Teed said. “I was proud of the effort today.”

Padget allowed no runs and no hits and walked one, hit one and struck out two in his two innings.

Fenton led the Mustangs (13-14) with one hit and one walk, Farver and DeRaad each scored one run and stole one base and Jack Jungling and Wendt were hit by pitches. It was Wendt’s varsity debut.

The Mustangs were without starters Gabe Hobbs and Kaleb DeVries. Hobbs is out with an injury.

“Sometimes it takes us a little time to wake up,” Daye said. “But once we wake up, we get it going and barrel the ball up. It took a little longer today. (Bracewell) is tougher than we expected.”

Edwards led the Tigerhawks (8-13) with one hit, Hunter and Bracewell each walked once and Dalton was hit by a pitch.

“I feel bad for our seniors because they are done,” Teed said. “We just couldn’t get any runs today. They made the plays when they had to.”