Strong nucleus returns for NV baseball

Nodaway Valley’s baseball team opened a new season with some offensive firepower back from a year ago, but the Wolverines entered their second week still searching for their first win.

The Wolverines were topped twice by Creston last week and once by Cumberland-Anita-Massena.

“We return a pretty good pitching corps but it took our pitchers a little while to get zeroed in, it seemed like, in game time,” Nodaway Valley head coach Dan Jameson said. “Ty Strode threw the first game and didn’t do too bad, but with all of our pitchers, we need to do a little better saving some pitchers. As the games progressed, the pitching got better.”

Senior Will Shilling pitched one of the games against Creston last Thursday and used 50 pitches over the first two innings, but he settled in and threw 60 more pitches over nearly four more innings. He was relieved with one out left in the game.

The Panthers won both games, 10-4 and 7-1. Junior Manolis Galanakis pitched the other game, going the distance and throwing 92 pitches in six innings of work. Jameson liked how Galanakis got stronger and located his pitches better as the game went on.

CAM beat Nodaway Valley 10-5 last Tuesday in Anita. Titan Foster, Galanakis, senior Remington Woosley, senior Bryan Gonzalez and Strode each finished with a hit. Strode and senior Jacob Fry each drove in a run. Foster scored two runs, while Woosley, Strode and Gonzalez each scored once. The Wolverines stole four bases.

Five of Nodaway Valley’s top six hitters from a year ago return to the diamond. Foster hit .400 last season with three doubles, five RBIs and a team-high 21 runs scored. Woosley hit .271, Shilling .217 and Gonzalez .211.

“We’ve got some guys who are making good contact right away. Titan, Strode, and some of them — they’re coming out and hitting the ball right away. The others are getting their timing down,” Jameson said. “Once we get the others firing I think it’ll be a pretty decent lineup.”

Strode pitched the most innings last summer among returning players, throwing 27 2/3 innings and finishing with a 5.06 ERA.

The Wolverines, who were 4-16 a year ago and 2-12 in the Pride of Iowa Conference, had conference home games Tuesday and Thursday against Southwest Valley and Mount Ayr, respectively, before a Friday home game against nearby nonconference foe West Central Valley.

“We’ve got some guys with experience. Those other guys, they’re getting their first varsity experience, and it’s gonna come,” Jameson said. “It’ll come around.

“We’ve gotta get out and compete. We’ll do a better job of putting the ball in play, and I think our pitchers are just going to keep getting better and better every outing.”