DONNELLSON – Cory Jones’ one-out single in the bottom of the seventh gave Central Lee another hard-fought win in SEI Superconference baseball action Friday night.
Jones singled off West Burlington’s Hayden Vandenberg with one on and the scored tied at 9 for a 10-9 win over the Falcons.
The Central Lee boys baseball team fought off a pesky West Burlington Falcons’ team Friday night.
The win was the fourth of the week for the Hawks, who knocked off Van Buren 6-5 on Thursday in a tough conference win. They also had wins over Wapello and Lone Tree. The Hawks stand at 10-6 overall and 6-5 in loop action.
“It was a well-played game,” said Central Lee Head Coach Shane Weirather.
“I was hoping we didn’t have a letdown after last night and I thought we played well enough. Give them credit, they hit the ball very well. We had a couple miscues but overall they put the ball in play, had some line drives - that’s a really good team over there.”
Weirather said the Van Buren win and the 4-1 week has put some wind in the Hawks’ sails.
“We had a win over a really good Van Buren team last night. In the Power Index they are top 10 if you look at 2A. This gives us a 4-1 week and we’re back at 10-6 and looking pretty frisky.”
Central Lee opened the scoring in Friday night’s game at home with three runs in the bottom of the first and added another in the bottom of the second.
West Burlington would rally in the top of the third with three runs to trail 4-3, but the Hawks would respond with two more in the bottom of the third on a wild pitch and fielder’s choice off the bat of junior Kayden Ames.
The Falcons would score in every inning the rest of the way out including two in the fourth, one in the fifth, two in the sixth and then trailing 9-8 in the top of the seventh, Jace Figuereo scored from third on a fielder’s choice back to Jones to tie things up at 9.
The Hawks then intentionally passed Hayden Vandenberg for the second time of the night and then Jones got the next hitter to fan to retire the top half of the seventh.
Ames doubled off Vandenberg to start the bottom half on a ball that went off the centerfielder’s glove.
Central Lee’s Zach Manwill then grounded out to short moving Ames to 3rd. Jones then singled to center scoring Ames with the winning run.
Bo Herdrich opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a three-run homer to left. Jones went 3-4 on the night with 3 RBIs and a run scored to lead Central Lee.
James Henningson pitched through four strong innings giving up five runs, four earned on five hits while striking out three and walking two.
Ryan Roberts and Jones combined in relief giving up four runs, all earned, and fanning three.
Vandenberg suffered the loss for the Falcons. Figuereo went 3-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored and a stolen base to lead West Burlington.
Weirather said pitching continues to be an issue with the number of games each week, but he’s been pleasantly surprised with the mound production.
“It's always a problem. Our starter, I thought he did a nice job. You play the pitch count game. Roberts was the same way, and this is Cory’s second week back after some elbow problems, but I’m proud of him. That was a big moment out there. He came in in a big spot and did a nice job,” Weirather said.
He said the team is starting to settle in and is gaining confidence with the strong week.
“We had a slow start. Every time you have young kids with the first varsity pitch, first varsity at bat, first varsity appearance, everyone is still getting settled in. We looked nervous, but we’ve been fighting back.
Central Lee takes on Washington Tuesday at 7 p.m. at home before hosting Hillcrest Academy on early afternoon 1 p.m. game on Wednesday.
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