MILO – Nodaway Valley is moving on in postseason play after taking down Ankeny Christian Academy Saturday, beating ACA 3-2 in the opening round of the Class 1A District 15 baseball bracket.
With the win, Nodaway Valley will take on Class 1A No. 5 Southeast Warren 7 p.m. July 16 in Milo.
The last time NV played SEW, the Wolverines walked it off on a passed ball to take down the then undefeated Warhawks 5-4 June 28.
NV put four runs up on the board in the third before the Warhawks evened it up in the seventh, giving NV's Tyler Vandewater the opportunity to score the game-winning run on a passed ball in the bottom of the seventh.
"We played them a few weeks ago and came out on top. ... They're going to be ready for us by all means. ... We're just getting in the right frame of mind to be ready to go. We know we can do it," said Nodaway Valley head coach Dan Jameson.
The winner will face CAM, Anita or Audubon in the district final Saturday night.
Behind early
Two runs in the top of the first inning put ACA ahead quickly to start the game, forcing the Wolverines to play catch-up in their first at-bats.
Three straight singles off of Colby Harris was what helped string together runs in favor of Ankeny Christian, but it was all the Eagles got to cross the plate as Harris and the Wolverine defense buckled down and held ACA at bay.
Going down early in the game didn't phase the Wolverines and Jameson.
"We kept allowing some baserunners early in the game, but we kept working out of it," said Jameson. "That's what we've done quite a bit this year, work out of situations. ... He's (Harris) not going to overpower anybody, but he makes things happen on the mound."
In his seven innings of work, Harris struck out four and walked two. He was given the winning decision to improve to 5-1 on the season.
At the plate, it took NV a bit longer for the bats to get moving as they didn't get it going until the fourth inning.
Ankeny Christian's Malachi Johnson did a good job of keeping the Wolverine batters guessing at the plate in their first and second at-bats.
"They did a good job of keeping us off balance today," said Jameson. "We had a few squared-up hits, but couldn't find the holes. ... We had a few bounce our way and made things happen."
With the bases loaded, a ground ball off the bat of Mason Menefee took a wild hop over the shoulder of the ACA second baseman to score two runs, evening it up 2-2 in the fourth inning.
The ball, while not hit hard, caught a spot in the infield to keep the Wolverines out of a potential double play that could have potentially ended a scoring threat and the inning.
With the score tied up at 2-2, the Wolverines got back into it in the fifth inning with a one-out triple off the bat of Brady Hilpipre, finding its way to the fence.
An error from the Ankeny Christian shortstop put Caelen DeVault on, bringing in Hilpipre to give the Wolverines the go-ahead score.
On defense, the Wolverines played sound ball through the early stages. It wasn't until the seventh inning where Nodaway Valley made what was likely a game-saving catch.
"We played fairly clean ball," said Jameson. "We had a couple plays that should have been made, probably, but a few hops here and there helped the guys. Hunter's catch there at the end, my gosh, it was so big."
Still ahead by one with one out in the top of the seventh, a sinking line drive to center field was caught by a tumbling Hunter Ernst for the second out of the inning.
"He doesn't make that (catch), that kid is likely on third base. He laid out and made a tremendous catch there," said Jameson.
DeVault and Mason Mather had two-hit nights, both going 2-for-3. Both were run producers as well, driving in a combined three RBIs.
Nodaway Valley 3, Ankeny Christian Academy 2
R H E
ACA 200 000 0 — 2 10 0
NV 000 210 x — 3 8 1
Ankeny Christian Academy: Malachi Johnson 5K 1BB, Cale Leever (6) 1K 1BB, Jayce Goergen (6) 2BB and Justin Jacobs. Nodaway Valley: Colby Harris 4K 2BB and Tyler Vandewater. W — Harris (5-1). L – Johnson (5-3). HR — none. 3B – NV: Brady Hilpipre. 2B — ACA: Malachi Johnson. NV: Mason Menefee. RBI — ACA: Alex Carosone, Justin Jacobs. NV: Mason Mather (2), Caelen DeVault.