Panther offense breaks out in 13-5 victory

Thursday was the kind of breakout Creston baseball coach Steve Birchard was looking for from his team, coming off a 1-1 start including an 8-2 loss to Glenwood on Tuesday.

The Panthers stroked 14 hits Thursday, including at least one by every batter in the lineup, in posting a 13-5 home victory over Nodaway Valley in nonconference play.

Winning pitcher Cody Crawford and Wolverine starter Spencer Lamb were in a solid duel through four innings as the Panthers held a 4-2 lead.

Then the Panthers went on a tear with nine runs on 10 hits in the fifth and sixth innings to break it open.

“Creston squared it up really good tonight and hit the ball well,” said Nodaway Valley coach Dan Jameson, whose team opened with a 9-0 loss to Norwalk on Tuesday. “I thought we put the ball in play a lot better tonight than we did against the Norwalk lefty the other night. Creston is just a good hitting team.”

The Panthers did it without junior Jaden Driskell, who begins doubles play in the state tennis tournament today with teammate Jacob Cook.

Center fielder Michael Scherer was an offensive spark Thursday, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three stolen bases. He also advanced three bases on wild pitches.

“We have some guys who can move on the bases,” Birchard said. “A couple of times we were running to steal and hit the ball in the hole to score. We had been pounding the ball in the dirt a lot and tonight I thought we got a little better launch angle and put some drives in the gaps.”

Crawford, Kadon Hulett and Eli Loudon each had two hits Thursday, including a double by Hulett to lead off the third inning.

The Panthers sent 20 batters to the plate in the fifth and sixth innings while scoring nine runs.

“I was proud of our hitting approach tonight,” Birchard said. “Our pitching was pretty solid, then after we had that long (fifth) inning, Cody came out and was having some trouble throwing strikes. We brought (Jack) Frey in with the bases loaded and gave up the bases-clearing double, but that’s all they got. He settled down. We kind of look at him as a strike thrower and that’s what he did for us tonight.”

Frey got the final six outs to preserve the win for Crawford, who gave up four hits with four walks and four strikeouts in just over five innings.

Right fielder Dustin Merritt had the defensive play of the night for the Panthers. With two runners on base, Beau Weinheimer hit a single for the Wolverines. Corbin Bond tried to score from second base on the play, but Merritt threw a one-hop strike to Panther catcher Beau Barncastle, who applied the tag for the out and keep the Panthers in front, 2-1.

Senior Brandon Mangels, coming off a sprained ankle from soccer, finished on the mound for the Wolverines in relief of Weinheimer.

“Mangles would normally be our number one and he’s our primary shortstop, but we didn’t have him in the field tonight with that ankle injury,” Jameson said. “We’re kind of slowly working him in.”

Brady Hilpipre was the hitting star for Nodaway Valley. He lined a double to left in the fourth inning and then cleared the bases with another double in the sixth after Crawford had loaded the bases with walks. Hilpipre finished 2-foe-3 with four RBIs.

“Brady kind of got us going when he stepped up and cleared the bases,” Jameson said. “We just need a few more of those big hits.”

UP NEXT: The Wolverines (0-2) travel to Bedford Tuesday in Pride of Iowa Conference play before going to Atlantic Wednesday.

Creston (2-1) plays at Clarinda Tuesday, hosts Interstate 35 on Wednesday and then travels to top-ranked and defending state champion Harlan Thursday for a Hawkeye 10 Conference doubleheader.

Junior varsity

Nate Pudenz’s two-run single in the fifth inning pushed the Creston JV to a 5-4 victory over Nodaway Valley.

Bryce Fitzgerald had two hits in the victory. Cael Kralik had a run-scoring single and Garrett Dahl also had a single for Creston, now 1-1-1. Gavin Shawler picked up the pitching win in relief of Cole Strider.

Creston 13, Nodaway Valley 5

R H E

N. Valley 011 003 0 — 5 5 2

Creston 112 054 x — 13 14 3

NV: Spencer Lamb 3K 3BB, Beau Weinheimer (5) 0K 2BB, Brandon Mangels (6) 0K 1BB and Joe Herr. Cr: Cody Crawford 4K 4BB 1 HBP, Jack Frey (6) 2K 0BB and Beau Barncastle. W — Crawford. L— Lamb. 2B — NV: Brady Hilpipre 2, Lamb 1; Cr: Kadon Hulett 1. RBI — NV: Hilpipre 4; Cr: Eli Loudon 2, Bryce Fitzgerald 2, Luke Latham 1, Matthew Scherer 1, Brenden McDowell 1. Multiple hitters — NV: HIlpipre 2; Cr: Scherer 3, Loudon 2, Hulett 2, Crawford 2.