Newton baseball ends long losing skid against Indianola

INDIANOLA — A fast start propelled the Newton baseball team to its first win over Indianola since at least 2017.

The Cardinals scored twice in the first frame and once in the second and never trailed during a 5-2 Little Hawkeye Conference road victory over the Class 4A No. 9 Indians on Friday.

Eli Stewart got his first varsity pitching win, Drew Thompson and Skyler Milheiser each collected two hits and the Cardinals out-hit their hosts 9-4.

Since the two programs started playing each other three times a year in 2017, Indianola is 20-1 in the series.

Newton (11-17 overall, 7-14 in the conference) added one run each in the fourth and sixth frames and Indianola scored both of its runs in the fifth. Each team committed two errors.

Thompson added three RBIs and one walk to his two-hit night and now leads the Cardinals with 18 RBIs.

Kacey Sommars doubled and finished with two runs, one walk and one RBI. He leads Newton with 25 runs.

Stewart finished with one hit and one walk at the plate and tossed a career-high five innings on the mound.

Stewart (1-0) allowed two earned runs on four hits and four walks and struck out two in 103 pitches.

Brody Bauer earned his second save of the season after tossing a perfect two innings. He added one hit and one RBI at the dish.

Jake Ingle finished with one hit and one run, Finn Martin walked twice, Turner Williams added one walk and one run and Riley Mouchka had the other hit.

Cade Bauer scored one run and Newton stranded 10 runners on base.

Luke Rockhold led Indianola (24-9, 16-5) with two walks and one run. Cooper Belt tallied one hit, one run, one walk and two steals.

Indianola won the season series after taking two in Newton back on June 14. The Indians won those games 8-4 and 8-0.