Cyclones split road doubleheader with Cardinals
Thursday night, the HCHS Cyclone baseball team was hoping to extend its 10-game winning streak against the Clarinda Cardinals on the road, but were unable to do so, dropping game one, 8-5, but bouncing back to win game two, 7-6.
Jozef Reisz took the mound to start game one for the Cyclones, going just one inning, walking four and giving up four runs on zero hits. Weston Reisz took over after him, throwing the final five innings, striking out three, and giving up four runs on four hits.
“Jozef started and struggled to throw strikes a little bit and we made a couple of errors,” said Cyclone Head Coach Heath Stein. “Game one got away from us a little bit, but they did an all right job battling.”
The Cyclones scored five runs, including jumping on the Cardinals starting pitcher, Karsten Beckel, right away with a run, but the Cardinals came back to drop three runs in the bottom of the 1st inning.
The Cyclones got two more runs in the top of the 3rd, one in the 5th and one in the 7th which included contributions from Cade Sears and Quinn Koesters having two hits each. Jozef Reisz, Landen Kaufman and Matthew Sorfonden each had a hit, too.
“We got going early a little bit,” Stein said. “Cade got on, our bunt game was good. We just couldn’t get a base hit when we needed to drive in some guys. They threw their #2 guy, because they have a different postseason outlook. They don’t play again until Wednesday, so they’re getting their guys lined up for that.”
In game two, the Cyclones bounced back with a close win, scoring their seventh (and game winning) run in the top of the 7th after the Cardinal offense erupted for three runs in the bottom of the 6th.
Offensively, Brett Heese had two hits, while Sears, Koesters, Hayden Soma and Stephen Leinen each had a hit. Jozef Reisz, Koesters, Heese and Leinen all knocked in a run, while Soma knocked in two.
Cael Goshorn started on the mound for the Cyclones, pitched 2 2/3 innings, struck out two batters, but walked six, giving up two runs on three hits. Quinn Koesters took over after Goshorn pitching 4 1/3 innings, striking out eight batters.
“He [Koesters] threw the ball really well,” Stein added. “The games were long. It was extremely humid and hot, and playing a doubleheader in that heat can take a toll on a guy and he really showed his mental toughness coming in and doing a very good job on the mound for us.”
The Cyclones return home Friday afternoon to battle the 19-3 Underwood Eagles. According to Stein, Braydon Ernst will get the ball to start the game for the Cyclones. The Eagles are led by Garrett Luett batting .536 with 37 hits and 31 runs batted in. On the mound, Jack Vanfossan has six wins with 57 strikeouts in 37 innings pitched with a 0.00 earned run average.
“We’ve been following them a little bit throughout, and they’ve been winning a lot of ballgames,” Stein said. “They’ve got the coaches kid, Vanfossan, and Garrett Luett are very good players and the Boothby kid, who’s a good athlete. Those three guys are guys that they rely on to do a lot of their damage.”