Young Tigers prevail, 9-3, against English Valleys

NORTH ENGLISH— “State track speed” was a saying you might have heard often if you attended the Iowa Valley at English Valleys baseball game Tuesday night.

The stolen bases came in bunches in this SICL dual.

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“Iowa Valley has always been known for its speed. We have a lot of guys that competed at State track,” Iowa Valley head coach Sam Rohovit said.

Iowa Valley’s Nolan Kriegel got things started with a hit on the first pitch of the game.

Caleb Haack and Owen Bral both had RBIs in the first to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead after a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning by Tiger pitcher Bral.

The Bears got on the board in the second inning with a hit to right field by Kane Axmear.

“I thought we put the ball in play well tonight,” English Valleys head coach Brennen Grimm said.

The Bears made solid contact throughout the game.

The Tigers added another in the third off an RBI by Haack via fielders’ choice.

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Two more runs were added for the Tigers in the 4th. Freshman Dane Smith delivered an RBI double to right center field that brought in Iowa Valley’s Garrett Hoyt.

Mason Hoyt added a double in the top of the 5th, but the Bears outfield made a great play on a deep fly out to prevent any scoring.

Freshman Cole Long took over on the mound for the Tigers after 4 1/3 innings from Bral.

The Bears’ next scoring threat came in the bottom of the 5th when Cael Grove reached base with a single and stole second off a wild pitch.

After a walk and both baserunners advancing, the Bears had two runners in scoring position. English Valleys Ty Ayers forced a full count at the plate.

Tiger pitcher Long forced a flyout to the first base side and the Tigers survived the inning allowing no runs.

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In the 6th inning, errors benefited both teams. Errors were a common theme throughout the game that helped both teams advance baserunners.

Part of this can be contributed to how young the Iowa Valley roster is. A total of six freshman were in the starting lineup.

“We need to have a next-play mentality and with more repetition and practice, these (errors) will be cleaned up,” Rohovit said.

Great leadership from upperclassmen has been important to the Tigers so far this season.

“Garrett (Hoyt) and Dawson (Smith) do a great job of keeping the team pumped up and are very verbal. Owen (Bral) is a great leader by example for us,” Rohovit added.

Leadership has also been key for the Bears in this young season.

“With no assistant coach, our seniors have helped a lot. They’ve done a lot in practices and help set the expectations for the team,” Grimm said.

Myles Grove came in to pitch for the Bears in the 6th. Chance Hoyt got on base via walk and eventually scored off an error.

The Bears defense ended the top of the 6th after a double play flyout.

The hit of the night for the Bears came from Keyden Lown in the bottom of the 6th. His double helped him and Landen Montross score after a Tigers error.

The Tigers added three more runs in the top of the 7th coming off RBI hits to the outfield courtesy of Mason and Garrett (Hoyt).

It was only fitting that after all the stolen bases this game, the game would end with a picked off stolen base attempt.

And that is exactly what happened.

The Bears fought all game and battled in the 9-3 loss to the Tigers.

“As a whole I saw a lot of improvement from our first game to second game,” Grimm said.