Newton baseball can’t find offense in losses to Dutch

Eli Stewart and Finn Martin threw well enough to win against rival Pella on Wednesday.

But the Newton baseball team was limited to seven hits in two games and committed seven total errors during a pair of Little Hawkeye Conference home losses.

The Dutch downed the Cardinals 3-0 in the opener and then pulled away for a 6-0 victory in the nightcap. It was Pella’s eighth straight win in the series.

Newton trailed 1-0 through five innings of both games in the conference openers.

“We felt really confident in the two guys we had going today,” Newton head baseball coach Derek Wrage said. “We talked in the preseason about being able to command the zone and throw three pitches for strikes. I think the two we pitched today have worked really hard and have done that.”

The nightcap was scoreless through four, but Martin surrendered an unearned run in the fifth after Pella scored on a two-out error.

Martin was chased in the seventh after 92 pitches. The first two batters of the frame reached and then the Cardinal sophomore allowed back-to-back hits that made it 4-0.

Derek Wermager got the final two outs of the inning but not before Pella scored two more times.

Martin (1-2) walked twice at the plate and took the loss on the mound. He surrendered four runs — three earned — on six hits and one walk in 6 1/3 innings. He also struck out seven.

Wermager fanned the final batter he faced but allowed two earned runs on two hits.

The story of the game for the Newton offense was coming up short with runners on base.

The Cardinals loaded the bases in the first inning of the nightcap but couldn’t score. Martin and Skyler Milheiser walked between a Stewart single. The inning ended on a pair of strikeouts and a fielder’s choice out at the plate.

Newton was retired in order by Pella starting pitcher Nathan Carey in the second and fourth.

Stewart reached an infield single in the third and Martin drew a two-out walk in the fifth. Mason Mendez was hit by a pitch and John Frietsch reached on a two-out infield single in the sixth, but Carey fanned the side the keep the Cardinals off the scoreboard.

Dakota Winkleman drew a pinch-hit, one-out walk in the seventh, but the Cardinals (3-6, 0-2 in the conference) struck out 10 times in both games. Newton also was hampered by four errors in the second game.

“We’ve talked a lot about what good at-bats are,” Wrage said. “It’s not always going to be hitting a double off the wall. It needs to be working counts, putting the ball in play and getting on base any way necessary.

“The part that becomes hard, especially with us being a younger team, is not shying away from the moment.”

Isaiah Kettler led the Dutch at the plate with two hits, one run and one RBI, while Nathan VandeLune had one hit and scored two runs. Anderson Schirm also had a two-run single as part of the five-run seventh.

Carey allowed no earned runs on three hits with four walks and one hit batter in seven innings. He struck out 10.

Stewart (0-1) had a strong outing on the mound, too. He needed just three pitches to get the first two outs of the game and threw nine pitches total in the first.

Pella (6-2, 2-0) scored its first run off Stewart in the second without getting a hit. The unearned run came off an error, a hit by pitch, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI groundout by VandeLune.

The Cardinals committed three errors in the opener and all three runs were unearned.

Stewart took the loss despite allowing no earned runs on two hits, two walks and two hit batters. He struck out six in seven innings and 96 pitches.

“It’s hard to be able to throw three pitches for strikes and to be able to do it as fast as (Eli and Finn) have is impressive,” Wrage said.

The Cardinals stranded two runners on base in the first and second.

In the first, Stewart drew a one-out walk and Frietsch was hit by a pitch with two outs. Lincoln Peterson and Cade Bauer had two-out singles in the second but were stranded on base.

Frietsch reached on a two-out infield single in the third, but the inning ended on a diving catch in center field off the bat of Mendez.

“We don’t want to go up to the plate hoping it works out,” Wrage said. “We have to want to be the guy who gets the hit. That’s part of our learning process. We have to be the one who wants to make the play and trust our training and practice.”

Bauer, Peterson, Stewart and Gabe Otto all had hits in the first game. Stewart walked, Frietsch was hit by two pitches and Peterson, Milheiser and Wermager all were hit by one pitch.

The Dutch won the game with only two hits in part because Newton committed three errors.