By JIM GRIES
Herald sports editor
BUSSEY
May 21, 2008 10:25 am
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Wild.
That about sums the season opener between Oskaloosa and Twin Cedars Tuesday night.
The Indians (0-1) outhit the 1-0 Sabers 9-4, but also gave up 13 walks with the final two hurting them the most.
With Oskaloosa trailing 7-6 heading into the seventh inning, the Indians took the lead when senior catcher Tyler Vitzthum reached on an error by Twin Cedars second baseman Andrew Kurimski. Jon Eveland replaced Vitzthum as a courtesy runner and stole second. Senior pitcher D.J. Draughn singled to center to score Eveland, tying the game at 7. Freshman Austin Westercamp ran for Draughn and would get to third on a single by sophomore Jakob McDowell. Sophomore Brandon VanDalen stole second to bring up freshman Jake McCrea.
Oskaloosa coach Brandon Schmidt called for a suicide squeeze, which McCrea failed to execute. But Westercamp saw that and got in a rundown and scored the go-ahead run when Sabers third baseman Casey Crozier misplayed the throw from catcher Ricky Gilbert.
Twin Cedars reliever Kelby Evans got McCrea and senior Alex West to play out to end the inning and give the Sabers their final hope of pulling the game out.
“It was a heads-up running play by Austin,” Schmidt said. “Instead of running into a tag at home plate on a botched squeeze play. He saw it and he got in a rundown and in a rundown, you never know what will happen, and the third baseman bobbled it and he scored the go-ahead run at the time.”
Things looked promising for the Indians as Brent Goemaat flied out to begin the inning, but those ugly walks crept up and proved to be very costly for the Indians.
Gilbert walked, stole second and went to third on a balk by Draughn. Kyle Pinegar walked and Crozier lofted a sacrifice fly to McCrea in left to bring home Gilbert to even the game at 8. Matt Rowley, who had reached base just once on a fielder’s choice, singled to left and Pinegar beat the throw from McCrea for the winning run thus ending a nearly 3-hour contest.
Schmidt like what he saw from his team that won just four times in 30 games last season.
“The team showed great resiliency and did a good job,” he said. “Our bats were popping tonight and that says we’re right on stride and in our first game, I can’t ask for any more from our bats.
“Defensively, we did a great job although we did make an error or two especially in the first game of the year. We had a couple of people who didn’t get enough reps (repetitions) and had to move around a couple of guys. We’re better off than we were at this time last year, but we still need to throw more strikes than we are. We’re walking too many batters more than we gave up hits and that should be vice-versa.
“Overall, I’m proud of the team and you can see its character. We’re a close team and we’ll be fine.”
Oskaloosa jumped on top in the second as McDowell singled to left and Hansen walked. McCrea bunted back to Twin Cedars pitcher Trevor Roberts, who threw the ball away to allow two runs to score. West drove in McCrea on a single to left for a 3-0 lead.
But the Sabers came right back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the third on a fielder’s choice by Rowley and an RBI-single by Hugen.
They added three more in the fourth as they sent nine batters to the plate. Crozier had a single that drove in a run and Hugen drew a bases-loaded walk to score another.
Schmidt praised Twin Cedars how it responded to giving up the go-ahead runs in the top of the seventh by getting two of its own and take the game.
“You have to expect that from Twin Cedars,” he said. “Their sport in this town is baseball, that’s one of their main sports for the boys side. Year-in, year-out they always seem to compete in baseball at least in the past five years or so, they’ve been real tough in baseball. Each year we come here to play or they come to Oskaloosa, it’s a real tight game. They’re a good ball club and will have another good season this year.”
Oskaloosa visits Martensdale-St. Marys on Thursday while Twin Cedars entertains Southeast Warren, also on Thursday.
Twin Cedars 9, Oskaloosa 8
Oskaloosa 030 102 2 — 8 9 3
Twin Cedars 003 310 2 — 9 4 3
Oskaloosa battery — Brent Ford (3 1/2 IP, 6 R, 3 H, 6 BB, 8 K), D.J. Draughn (L, 0-1, 3 1/3 IP, 3 R, 1 H, 7 BB, 2 K) and Tyler Vitzthum.
Hits — Alex West 2-for-5, Aaron Laird 2-for-3, Jakob McDowell 2-for-4, Ford 1-for-4, Draughn 1-for-4, Jake McCrea 1-for-3, Runs — Colton Hansen 3, McCrea 2, McDowell, Jon Eveland, Austin Westercamp. RBI — West 2, Ford 2, Draughn.
Twin Cedars battery — Trevor Roberts (6 IP, 8 R, 7 H, 4 BB, 8 K), Kelby Evans (W, 1-0, 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K) and Ricky Gilbert.
Hits — Casey Crozier 2-for-4, Matt Rowley 1-for-5, Jake Hugen 1-for-3. Runs — Kyle Pinegar 3, Crozier 2, Gilbert 2, Rowley, Brent Goemaat. RBI — Rowley 2, Crozier 2, Hugen 2, Gilbert.
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