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Plainsmen fall to Falcons
Falcons pull away with big 6th inning
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
BELLE PLAINE — For six innings, the Belle Plaine baseball team was neck and neck with Class 2A Aplington-Parkersburg in a non-conference matchup Tuesday.
The one inning they weren’t proved to be the difference.
The Falcons scored eight runs in the sixth to top the Plainsmen 10-1.
“I don’t think the final score is indicative of how we played tonight” Belle Plaine coach Matthew Mengler said.
Throughout the first five innings, the Plainsmen showed a lot of resilience defensively getting out of potential scoring threats from the Falcons.
The first jam came in the first, where the Falcons had the bases loaded with no outs.
Derek Kressley struck out the next batter, and catcher Wade Sankot threw out the base runner at third. Another strikeout from Kressley ended the scoring threat.
In the fourth, the Falcons had runners on second and third and no outs. Kressley forced three straight fly outs to end the inning.
“Derek threw well in his first varsity start,“ Mengler said. ”He battled even when his command wasn’t there. We got out of a lot of jams.“
The Plainsmen scored first off an RBI single from Ty Alcott in the first and had the bases loaded themselves with no outs. The Falcons forced three straight outs to limit the damage to just a run.
It was the Plainsmen’s only run of the game.
“Offensively, we had opportunities and multiple innings where we had runners on base,” said Mengler. “We just weren’t able to get the hit we needed.”
A solo home run from Sully Janssen tied things up in the second, and the Falcons took the lead after five, scoring on a passed ball at the plate.
Then came the eight-run sixth.
The Falcons totaled six hits in the innings, and five of them brought in runs. Some Plainsmen miscues prolonged the inning.
The Plainsmen totaled seven hits, by seven different players. Kressley and Will Sankot each had doubles.
“Being able to compete with them for five innings, shows that were in a good spot,” Mengler said following the loss.
Five sophomores started for the Plainsmen Tuesday, and all got playing time as freshmen.
So far this season, Coach Mengler has seen development from them.
“Last year I don’t know how many games where we had double digit strikeouts,” Mengler said. “We’re putting the ball in play a lot better (this season).
“They are coming around and we’re doing much better offensively.”
