Hawks and Falcons deadlocked at 5 in Substate 5

KEOSAUQUA – The much-needed storms may have pulled us from drought conditions, but they sure wreaked havoc on Saturday’s Class 2A Substate 5, Region 10 baseball game in Van Buren.
The Central Lee Hawks and West Burlington, who have battled in two one-run games already this year, stand at a 5-5 tie in the top of the seventh after storms suspended Saturday’s game.
When the game was called at close to 10 p.m. after lightning kept cracking the skies above the Mildred and Eddie Ferguson Sports Complex in Keosauqua, Central Lee was up in the bottom of the 7^th with no outs.
Bo Herdrich had just drawn a walk and James Hemingson was up with one strike.
That’s exactly where the game will resume on Monday at 7 p.m. at Central Lee. The Hawks were supposed to have hosted the game but field conditions moved the event to Van Buren County.
The game was originally ruled a completed game and a win for the Hawks with Iowa High School Athletic Association officials ruling that the game had to revert to the end of the last full inning completed which would have given the Hawks a 5-4 win and move them into the quarterfinals against Mediapolis Wednesday in Van Buren.
After the game was called Central Lee Athletic Director Wes McGraw phoned IHSAA officials to confirm the ruling, which he got. But then he found a ruling under tournament guidelines that said the game should be suspended and restarted at that moment of the suspension.
“I’ve made another call and they will be evaluating the situation further,” McGraw said after the game.
Head Coach Shane Weirather said following Saturday’s game that he was moving forward as if the Hawks had won and would await a decision from the association.
“That’s our understanding is that we won, but we’ll see what happens,” he said Saturday night.
Central Lee held a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Falcons tied things in the top of the seventh.
After Central Lee’s Chase Johnson set the Falcons down in order in the top of the sixth, West Burlington’s Cody Allen did the same in the bottom of the sixth.
Then Caleb Bush singled to lead off the 7^th and Lyblii Christofferson came in to courtesy run. Jace Figuereo then singled moving Christofferson, the tying run, into scoring position. Brock Thuleen struck out. That brought Hayden Vandenberg to the plate. Vandenberg had homered in the third inning and has four homers against the Hawks.
Weirather chose to put Vandenberg on with an intentional pass to load the bases with one out.
On a wild pitch, Christopherson tried to score, but was called out on a ruling for not sliding. Christopherson appeared to beat the throw to plate, but collided with catcher Bo Herdrich’s arm that was stretched out over the baseline.
Because Christopherson didn’t slide for the play, he was ruled out at home and a dead ball was ordered. The speedy Figuereo, seeing the chaos, came all the way around from second and slid into home. But the dead ball rule forced him back to third.
“It all depends on catcher position. If the catcher's up the line they have a right to the plate, but they have to slide and then you had a dead ball on the Figuereo slide so – there was a lot going on there,” Weirather said.
Figuereo would eventually score to tie the game on another wild pitch from Johnson. But Allen would fly out to left in the rain to end the inning at 5-all.
Weirather said he would rather take a chance with Allen then pitch to Vandenberg with two on.
“He’s just too good, so dangerous. Extra bases off that kid’s bat is nothing. Most of the time with high school hitters you see a lot of singles. But shoot, he doubles - home runs - extra bases and that snowballs into their team really getting excited,” Weirather said on the decision.
“I think we had a better chance facing the other kid. No disrespect to him, but Hayden really has my respect. He’s got maybe four home runs against us this year.”
Weirather has also intentionally passed Vandenberg five times this year.
Bo Herdrich worked a walk to lead off the top of the seventh and Hemingson had a strike when a bolt of lightning stopped the contest for 30 minutes. IHSAA guidelines require at least 30 minutes suspension after each observation of lightning. The game was called after about 45 minutes of delays.
Both teams put up two runs in the first inning before things settled in. Central Lee got two more in the bottom half of the second sparked by Hemingsen’s RBI single that went off a diving Figuereo’s glove dribbling
into left field.
Vandenberg would cut the lead to one at 4-3 with a solo blast to left center, but that’s all the Hawks would give up in the third.
Cory Jones would hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom half of the third to make it a two-run game at 5-3.
West Burlington would get one back when Figuereo’s grounder to short drew a high throw to get the senior racing down the line. The two-out error allowed Levi Fletcher-Bates, who singled to open the inning, to score from second.
Both teams went unscathed through the fourth and fifth innings, setting up the sixth inning dramatics.
The Hawks’ Gannon Wells and Chase Johnson combined for seven hits and five runs, four earned while striking out seven and walking three. However, neither will be available for Monday’s game due to throwing more than 40 pitches Saturday.
West Burlington starter Brady Diewold will be available Monday, but Allen will not. The two allowed five runs, three earned on nine hits and struck out four.
Central Lee’s Ryan Roberts is 3-3 with a run scored. Jones is 2-3 with a run scored and an RBI to lead the Hawks at the plate as play stands.