Creston walks-off against Glenwood

The Panthers earned every bit of their 10-9 victory over the Rams Thursday night at Panther Field.

Panther sophomore Jack Walter crossed the plate for the game winner in the bottom of the seventh for his fourth run of the year.

“I’m just happy for my guys, I was saying today we’re so close we’ve been in every game our number one quote unquote core value is to compete and at the end of every game we’ve had an opportunity to compete and to win,” coach Brandon Phipps said. “You know we’re this close to a pretty dang good record and being 1-7. We get a big win in the conference which is our big focus too.”

Glenwood opened the game with five unanswered runs, two in the second and three in the third. Two of the Ram runs in the third inning came when Jason Colpitts hit a home run.

Walter, bookended the Panther scoresheet with his first run in the bottom of the third inning.

Weston Trapp, McCoy Haines, Cael Turner, Gannon Greenwalt and Avery Fuller followed suit and gave Creston a 6-5 lead after the third inning.

Colpitts, the pitcher for the Rams, was removed and replaced by Evan Soergel.

Ram Trent Patton edged Glenwood ahead in the top of the fourth inning with a two run dinger.

The Panthers had the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, but all base runners were stranded.

In the bottom of the sixth, Trapp tied the score at 7. Avery Fuller drove in Turner, which gave Creston a narrow 8-7 lead.

Gage Skarda, Creston’s closer, came in to replace Parker Varner who had 51 pitches in 3 2/3 innings of service.

A bunt loaded the bases for Glenwood, and Risto Lappala earned a run and slid into Skarda who then shoved him. Skarda was ejected for his action and Greenwalt replaced him.

“We just got to control our emotions, our next core value is being neutral being in the moment all the time, not being too forward or in reverse,” Phipps said. “We just came to Gannon and said here you go you’re cold but get a couple of outs for us and we’ll get a hit and that’s exactly what happened. We put a guy on understanding a double play opportunity would be there. Next thing you know a ground ball we roll it up, double play and we look pretty smart.”

Colpitts gave Glenwood a 9-8 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Junior Kyle Strider got on base with a single. Strider then stole second and third base.

Walter drove Strider in to tie the game at 9, and starting pitcher Dylan Calvin drove Walter home for the win.

“Jack hit that little flare to get him in and when Jack gets on he’s going, he’s got great speed we stole Jack to second,” Phipps said. “Calvin’s up, two outs and the guy hits a bomb to left and we were even stealing Jack on that pitch too obviously that pitch scored and was a good time.”

Walter was excited about the victory over Glenwood, just the sixth win since 2009 for Creston baseball and the first since June 3, 2021.

“It’s exciting because everyone in Creston doesn’t like Glenwood,” Walter said. “So it was an honor to beat them.

Creston hosts Atlantic (1-5) for a doubleheader on Monday, the Trojans lead the series 16-10 since 2009 and have won three in a row.

“I don’t care who we play, being a Hawkeye 10 alum playing at Creston schools, I’ve seen them all,” Phipps said. “I believe we can play with anybody.”

Photos from the game cane be found at https://cnanews-photos.smugmug.com/Creston-baseball-vs-Glenwood/.