Baseball opens 2-4 after series of doubleheaders

After opening on the road May 19 at Winterset, the Creston baseball team has competed in three doubleheaders, sweeping one and losing the other two.

Winterset shut out the Panthers 10-0 and 4-0 in the opener as Creston struggled to find its footing against a balanced Huskies lineup. Winterset senior Reed Smith was a menace for Creston on the mound and at the plate, pitching four shutout innings and going 3-for-3 at the plate, scoring two runs.

Creston’s team is young; a lot of underclassmen gaining varsity experience early in their careers. Against Winterset, many of the Panthers’ connections at the plate were fly outs and ground outs. Junior Tom Mikkelsen is a leader on the team, displaying that early with two of the team’s three hits in the 10-0 game one loss. Mikkelsen returns as the leading hitter with a 0.362 batting average last season.

As the Huskies began to lay on the runs, Creston’s defense and pitching unraveled. Winterset logged 10 runs on just seven hits because of walks, hits by pitch and errors.

The Panthers turned it around the following day in their home opener where they swept Nodaway Valley 7-1 and 10-4.

Though Creston only had five hits in game one, six of the seven batters made it on base through a variety of walks and defensive errors. The Wolverines had a tough start, allowing the first three batters on base without a single hit.

The Panthers piled on the runs in the second inning, starting with walks by Mason Wilson and Rhett Driskell. With two outs and two on base, an error by Nodaway Valley’s third baseman had Landyn Scherer on base, Wilson home and Driskell to third.

Tanner Ray hit a single to send in Driskell followed by Mikkelsen sending in two runs on a a single of his own. Gabe Blazek hit a ball deep to left field to score Mikkelsen before the Wolverines were finally able to end the inning.

Creston used three pitchers in game one, Wilson on the mound for a majority of the game. He struck out five batters in four innings pitched, allowing just one run. Out of 80 pitches, 46 were strikes and 34 were balls.

Jameson McDonald came in to pitch for just over two innings, throwing three strikeouts. Out of 35 pitches, 21 were strikes. Logan Stehr pitched for just 10 throws.

In the second game, Mikkelsen had a perfect batting average, 3-for-3 at bat for three runs and an RBI. Junior Cason Scarberry pitched four innings, striking out six batters. He allowed three runs.

The other pitchers, Nico Leppla and McDonald, pitched a combined three innings. Leppla allowed no runs, striking out four batters. Only one Panther batter struck out in game two.

Tuesday Creston opened conference play in hosting Harlan for a doubleheader. While against Nodaway Valley, the Panthers were able to control the tempo and force mistakes, but against the Cyclones, the opposite occurred as they took on an experienced lineup of primarily upperclassmen.

Game one lasted just four innings, Creston using the same number of pitchers. Scherer got the start, throwing three strikeouts but allowing six runs. He threw 22 strikes on 37 pitches.

Harrison Krantz, a freshman, pitched the most at just over one inning, striking out one, allowing five runs and three walks. The pitching crew accumulated 17 errors.

As leadoff batter, Scherer opened Creston’s offense with a double followed by a score on a sac fly by Mikkelsen. By the time the Panthers scored again, they were trailing 14-1 on the heels of a Harlan grand slam.

Creston scored on runs by Ray and Blazek in the third after a double by Wilson sent Blazek home from second.

Game two saw an offensive increase for the Panthers as Harlan had to dig deep in the bullpen, using six pitchers in an attempt to hold off Creston.

Despite 31 runs being scored in seven innings, the game started slow. Creston responded in the first two innings, matching the Cyclones with one run in each. In the third, things unraveled for Creston’s defense as Harlan would punch through 15 runs in three innings.

The Panthers sent through nine of their own, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with Harlan’s onslaught of offense.

Mikkelsen had three hits on five at bats, sending in four runs for Creston. Scherer was 2-for-4, logging three runs and two RBIs. He was walked once. Mark Kasha had two hits for two runs, logging one RBI. Also scoring were Ray, Stehr and Driskell.

Ray pitched three innings, striking out two batters and allowing six runs. Stehr, Wilson and Leppla each pitched some, Leppla taking the next-most reps at just over two innings. He had two strikeouts.

Through six games, the Panthers are seeing great things out of Mikkelsen who boasts a .529 batting average on 17 plate appearances. This has led to a team-high eight RBIs.

Ray leads the team in runs with six and has faced the most batters with a cumulative ERA of 5.44. He’s started two games.

Tonight Creston hosts Red Oak in another conference matchup, their first single game of the season. The Tigers are 3-2, coming off a doubleheader sweep of St. Albert on Tuesday. Their losses came from West Central Valley and Griswold, each by just one run.