Cyclones make strong opening statement

 GLENWOOD (July 16) -- Alex Monson pitched six solid innings and the entire Harlan Community lineup contributed to a 13-run outburst Friday night as the Cyclones opened Class 3A postseason play with a 13-2 Substate 8 baseball quarterfinal romp at Glenwood.
 The fifth-seeded Cyclones, who lost both ends of a doubleheader vs. the Rams last month - 3-1 and 7-6 - never trailed in the rematch. They scored at least two runs in five different innings and won by the 10-run rule in six, outhitting Glenwood 12-5 and turning three Ram errors into seven unearned runs.
 HCHS (16-15 overall) advanced to play top-seeded and third-ranked Gilbert (22-8) in Monday’s 7:00 p.m. semifinal round at Gilbert. The winner will face Winterset (20-11) or Denison-Schleswig (18-11) in Wednesday’s Substate 8 final (7:00 p.m.) at the site of the highest seed.
 Glenwood closed shop with a final record of 14-15.
 “I expected a dog fight ‘til the last out,” said HCHS head coach Heath Stein of Friday’s win. “We jumped on them and in the middle innings we just continued to pour it on and it ended the way it did.
 “Guys up and down the lineup put together great at-bats. It’s the kind of stuff we’ve been talking about all year and everything came to surface in the box for us tonight.”
 Monson (4-3) held the Rams in check the whole way, allowing just five hits and two unearned runs. He walked two, hit one batter and struck out six, combining a well-spotted fastball with an improved curve that had Glenwood baffled.
 Monson threw 85 pitches and avenged a 3-1 loss to the Rams on June 14.
 “They probably came in thinking they could hit me really easily, and I guess it didn’t turn out that way,” said Monson, adding that he didn’t have many nerves before his first postseason outing.
 “It’s just another game. It’s not really anything different; just get out there and do your job,” he said.
 “Just keeping the balls on the corner and keeping it to where they can’t make contact. Curveball really was on tonight, so that helped out a lot... That’s probably the best I’ve ever thrown it - throwing (it more) and getting it in the zone.”
 Monson was at his best in the third, fourth and fifth, allowing only one base runner during those innings just as HCHS was pulling away with eight runs, including a four-run fourth.
 “Alex has been doing that all year. He’s just a strike thrower that attacks the zone,” Stein said of Monson’s performance. “He runs a little two-seamer in. When he establishes that breaking ball he makes it really tough on guys. He’s never in the middle of the plate. He throws probably 80 percent fastballs, but when he goes in, out, up, down - that makes it really tough on those hitters.”
 Glenwood had very few good results against Monson’s curveball, either taking it for strikes or swinging defensively.
 “He gets early contact with that fastball,” Stein said, “(or) he gets deep in counts and everybody starts gearing up for that fastball, and when he can pull the string like that he makes it really tough for those guys to square up any balls. They hit one ball hard in the first, maybe a couple late in the game... He probably gave up four hard-hit balls all night.”
 Offensively, the Cyclones used a combination of bloopers, line drives, bunt hits, walks, errors and stolen bases to accumulate 13 runs.
 Freshman Quinn Koesters had a 3-for-3 night with a walk and three runs scored while Luke Musich (two runs, two RBI), Monson and Ben Muenchrath (two RBI) each had two-hit games. Brehden Eggerss ran for Monson and scored three times.
 A Koesters bunt single and a hit-by-pitch set up the Cyclones’ two-run first against Glenwood freshman starter Kayden Anderson. With two out, Cade Sears’ high fly ball dropped fair inside the left-field line for an RBI double and Musich scored on a passed ball.
 The Rams pulled within 2-1 on Nolan Little’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the second, but the Cyclones would score the next 11 runs.
 Musich hit a two-run single in the third - driving in Joey Moser and Koesters - and two critical Ram errors led to four unearned runs in the fourth, capped by Isaiah Ahrenholtz’s two-run double to the fence in left-center.
 Anderson (3-4) exited the mound after four innings. He struck out eight batters but allowed seven hits and eight runs (three earned).
 Jayme Fritts, who pitched a complete game with 12 strikeouts against Harlan in June, threw an inning of relief and surrendered two unearned runs this time around, allowing two hits and two walks - one with the bases loaded to force in a run.
 HCHS added three runs in the sixth off Chase Rounds, who walked two and allowed three hits. Monson had an RBI single in the inning and Muenchrath capped a night of impressive at-bats from the nine hole with a two-run single to make it 13-1.
 “How about Benny Muenchrath - unbelievable,” Stein said. “He grinded out probably an eight-pitch at-bat and it ended with a really good swing... and the walk he drew. Just stuff like that rolled it over to the top of our lineup and (kept) the pressure on them... just outstanding by Benny.”
 The Cyclones finished the night with two errors defensively, including a disputed catcher’s interference call in the second inning, but played a much cleaner ball game than Glenwood. Koesters played a ball nicely off his chest at third to open the game with an assist and catcher Austin Schumacher easily threw out Trent Patton attempting to steal second - also in the first.
 “We’ve been talking with our infielders a lot about how we’re approaching the ball and how we’re taking it a little bit off to the side,” Stein noted. “The play early with Quinn Koesters... it came right up and got him. Boom - he stayed with it and threw the guy out.
 “Benny went back on a ball once [in center] and other than that it was a lot of routine plays tonight, but making the routing plays is what makes you move on.”
 Monson added, “I was very happy with our [defensive] performance tonight. It really helped out a lot.”
Gilbert on Monday
 The Cyclones were excited about the challenge that awaited them in Gilbert Monday night. The Tigers won the Raccoon River Conference title this season and were last year’s 3A state runner-up.
 Gilbert shut out Greene County 9-0 Friday behind a one-hitter by ace pitcher Easton Johnson, who has committed to play college ball at Creighton University.
 “They’re going to be tough,” Stein said. “I know they got runner-up last year. They’ve got a lot of guys back; quality throughout the lineup. We haven’t seen them obviously, but we know that they’re going to be a very quality team.”
 Monson added that the Cyclones are happy to be in the position to play a team like Gilbert.
 “We played well (Friday). I think we have a good shot against them,” he said.
 There were no close games in Substate 8 Friday as Winterset blanked Atlantic 10-0 in five and Denison handled Carroll 8-1.

Class 3A, Substate 8 Baseball Tournament
Substate Quarterfinal Scores - Friday, July 16
Gilbert 9, Greene County 0                      Winterset 10, Atlantic 0 (5)
Harlan Community 13, Glenwood 2 (6)    Denison-Schleswig 8, Carroll 1
Substate Semifinals - Monday, July 19
Harlan Community (16-15) at #3-ranked Gilbert (22-8), 7:00 p.m.
Denison-Schleswig (18-11) at Winterset (20-11), 7:00 p.m.
Substate Final - Wednesday, July 21 (site TBD), 7:00 p.m.