Cyclones cruise to dominant win over Yellow Jackets
For the first time in five days, the HCHS Cyclones baseball team was back in action as they returned home to battle the Council Bluffs Jefferson Yellow Jackets easily cruising to a 10-0 victory in five innings due to the mercy rule for their 23rd win of the season.
“It seemed like we were out forever with where the Fourth of July fell, and taking off five days,” said Cyclone Head Coach Heath Stein. “It was good to get back in the swing of things.”
Senior Caleb Schleis got the ball to start the night on the mound for the Cyclones pitching three innings, throwing 35 pitches, and giving up three base runners between two hits and a walk.
Senior Brock Lemrick took over for Schleis out of the bullpen recording six outs, four of which were strikeouts, while allowing just one hit.
“Caleb threw about 40 pitches, which was our plan to get him some work, so he’s eligible for Friday,” Stein said. “Lemrick went in and threw a little bit and he’s eligible for Friday.”
It didn’t take the Cyclone offense to get going, dropping a 6-spot in the bottom of the second with contributions up and down the lineup.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say we tore the cover off the ball, but we were able to pull it together with enough good at bats,” Stein added. “Colton Schneider hit a big double that scores a few, Quinn [Koesters] had a couple of RBI’s, Landen [Kaufman] hit two balls very hard, so it was good to see. Guys are continuing to work on their approaches.”
Coming into the game, Junior Hayden Soma was leading the team in runs batted in with 30, adding another run batted in against the Yellow Jacket defense. Stein spoke on behalf of Soma’s contributions whether it’s productive at bats or handling a pitching staff.
“He’s a rock back there,” Stein said of Soma. “Without him, we’re not anywhere close to where we are at. He does such a good job. He works really hard. He’s thrown out - I think - 13 guys this year trying to steal. Even though his batting average isn’t where he wants it to be, he’s so consistent and such a high-energy guy. He’s definitely one of our leaders.”
The Cyclones will be at home for their next game Wednesday for their regular season finale against the 19-20 Council Bluffs Lincoln Lynx. Offensively, the Lynx are led by Aidan Martin with a .483 batting average and 58 hits, along with Cooper Smith with 29 runs batted in. In pitching, Mason Garreans has five wins, while Blake Higgins has the lowest earned run average with 2.62 and Martin has 50 strikeouts in 44.2 innings pitched.
Junior Cyclone Weston Reisz will start on the mound for his team. Reisz comes in with a 5-1 record, a 3.66 earned run average, and 27 strikeouts in 28.2 innings pitched.
“I’m looking forward to Weston throwing the ball,” Stein said. “All year, he’s been throwing well. He can go compete with them, and we’re planning on throwing Quinn and Colton about 20 pitches each to make sure they get on the mound and get a little bit of work in, and they should be fresh and ready to go Friday.”