Newton baseball takes season series against Pella Christian

Finn Martin gives the Newton baseball team a chance to win almost every time he takes the mound.

On Friday against Pella Christian, the Cardinal sophomore took his game to another level and a 59-pitch complete game led the hosts to a 6-0 win during the opening game of a Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader.

The Cardinals’ top three hitters in the lineup did most of the damage at the plate and Martin did the rest on the mound as he allowed only five hits and walked zero in seven innings.

“I haven’t seen anything like that. He threw quality strikes, mixed speeds and mixed locations,” Newton head baseball coach Derek Wrage said. “That’s why he got weak contact. That’s the name of the game.”

The Cardinals were limited to three hits and committed three errors in a 10-5 loss in the nightcap.

Newton managed just two hits total in its loss to state-ranked Grinnell on Wednesday. But the first three batters in the order — Martin, Eli Stewart and Skyler Milheiser — in the bottom of the first inning all reached with singles against the Eagles.

That trio finished the game with four hits, five runs, three steals, two walks and Martin was hit by a pitch.

Wrage was most happy with them all collecting hits with two strikes in that first at-bat.

“One of the downfalls for us has been hitting with two strikes,” Wrage said. “We’ve worked on it in practice and it translated tonight. It was really nice to see us come through with two strikes in that first game.”

Martin, Stewart and Milheiser all singled and stole second in the first. Milheiser’s hit scored the first run and then Cade Bauer’s RBI sacrifice fly made it 2-0. Milheiser scored the third run on a passed ball.

Stewart got a one-out single and then took second on an error in the third. After Milheiser walked and with two outs, Mason Mendez put the hosts up 5-0 with a two-run single.

The final run of the game came in the fourth as Landry Rausch walked with two outs, advanced to second an error and then scored on another Pella Christian miscue.

The Eagles were hindered by two errors in the opener and the Cardinals had a 7-5 advantage in hits.

“I think as a pitcher, when you have a cushion you are more relaxed and free to just let it rip,” Martin said. “Getting ahead certainly helped.”

Martin got through a 1-2-3 first inning with seven pitches and then another 1-2-3 frame got him to 15 pitches after two.

Garrett Wieland registered the Eagles’ first hit to lead off the third, but the inning ended with a 5-4-3 double play.

“My defense was really good in that first game,” Martin said. “They did great. I pitched to contact and they made plays behind me.”

Martin’s only strikeout came in the second. Tyson DeVries opened the fourth with an infield single, but he was erased on the bases after Milheiser gunned him down trying to steal second.

Martin pitched around Newton’s lone error in the fifth. Eliot Menninga reached on the error to lead off the frame. Martin got the next batter on a pop out to first, and then the defense came to the party again.

After Isaiah Breems laced a double to the fence in left field, the Cardinals (6-17, 2-12 in the LHC) threw out Menninga at the plate on a 7-6-2 putout. Martin ended the inning when he got Wieland to ground out to Bauer at shortstop.

Three of the five hits Martin allowed were infield singles. DeVries got his second infield single with two outs in the sixth and Brecken Ritzert also collected a two-out infield single in the seventh.

Martin (3-3) was at 31 pitches through four, 43 pitches through five and 51 pitches after six.

“Strikeouts are fun and they look neat in the stat book, but outs are outs,” Wrage said. “And he got them done quicker and kept his fielder’s engaged.

“Hats off to Finn. He gives us a chance to win every time he’s on the mound. He just goes and competes. He’s competed at a high level in a lot of sports, and that stuff translates. He’s not afraid of the big moments.”

Stewart led the offense with two hits, two runs, one walk and one steal, Milheiser tallied one hit, two runs, one walk, one RBI and one steal and Martin added one hit, one run, two steals and one hit by pitch.

Martin leads the Cardinals with 17 runs and 16 steals, Stewart has a team-best 27 total bases and Milheiser leads the squad with an on-base percentage of .436 and ranks second with 15 steals.

Mendez, John Frietsch and Kreytein Wickliffe had the other hits. Mendez tallied two RBIs and stole one base, Rausch walked once and scored one run and Bauer had one RBI. He now leads the team with 13 RBIs.

Newton was limited to three hits in the nightcap. All 10 hits on Friday were singles and the Cardinals struck out 15 times. Eleven of those came in the game two loss.

Pella Christian (12-16, 3-12) scored its first run in the first inning of the nightcap.

The Cardinals answered with a five-run fourth. Wermager drew a bases loaded RBI walk, Wickliffe and Rausch each collected RBI ground outs and Milheiser delivered an RBI single after Stewart walked.

Mendez scored earlier in the inning when a wild pitch went beyond the netting behind home plate. The runners all moved up one base.

The Eagles got within 5-3 after a two-run fifth. Three straight bunt singles loaded the bases with no outs. A bases-loaded walk by Mendez made it 5-2 and the second run scored on an RBI single by Menninga.

Newton threw out Luke Fynaardt at the plate, but a ground ball on the next play loaded the bases.

An inning-ending double play got Mendez out of the inning though. He fielded a ground ball and got the out at home. The Eagles were safe at first, but had another runner thrown out at home after trying to score from second.

“You look at the scores and look at our record, and it doesn’t look good,” Wrage said. “But if you watch the games, you can see we are getting closer and closer. The team defense is there. We are much better than our record shows. Unfortunately, we also are what our record says we are.”

The Eagles’ five-run sixth featured three bases-loaded walks, one error and another run scoring on a wild pitch.

Stewart relieved Mendez in the inning but was pulled for Bauer after the three walks. Bauer gave up a sacrifice fly to center, but got out of the inning after another fly out.

The top of the sixth took 40 minutes, and the inning ended with the Eagles in front 8-5.

Newton had a 14-3 disadvantage in hits and was plagued by three errors.

“It started with three bunt singles. But eight free passes doesn’t make things easy,” Wrage said. “We were able to stop their big inning in the first game but couldn’t in the second. It kind of snowballed on us. And it’s really hard to do anything when you walk eight guys. That’s unacceptable. It’s bad baseball.”

The Cardinals drew seven walks themselves in the nightcap. Milheiser had two of the team’s three hits and Stewart walked twice.

Mendez had the other hit and scored one run, Bauer was hit by a pitch and scored one run and Frietsch walked twice and scored one run.

Wermager and Rausch walked once, scored one run and had one RBI and Wickliffe walked once and had one RBI.

Mendez (0-3) started on the mound and took the loss after allowing six runs — four earned — on 10 hits, two walks and two hit batters in 5 1/3 innings.

Stewart surrendered two runs — one earned — on three walks but did not get an out. Gabe Otto was the final pitcher of the night for Newton and he struck out one and allowed one hit and one walk.

Bauer pitched 1 1/3 innings and gave up two earned runs on three hits and struck out one.

“We are showing that we are improving,” Wrage said. “We are showing glimpses of being a good baseball team, but it has to be all the time. Not just turning it on and turning it off. That’s the next step as they get older.”

Menninga led the Eagles with three hits and four RBIs, Caleb Van Arendonk tallied two hits, two runs, two RBIs and two walks and Ritzert added two hits and two RBIs.

Ritzert also got the win after allowing no earned runs and striking out six in four innings. Grant Kelderman earned the three-inning save after striking out five and walking five.

Notes: The Cardinals took the season series against the Eagles, winning two of the three matchups. Newton has won three of the past four and four of the last six in the series.