Upset Alert! Van Buren County knocks off Mediapolis

MEDIAPOLIS — The Van Buren County baseball team prevailed in a heart-stopping Class 2A Substate 6 quarterfinal in Mediapolis on Tuesday night. The Warriors upset top-seeded Mediapolis 8-7 to earn a spot in the semifinals.

The play of the game came in the bottom of the seventh. Mediapolis had stormed back from an 8-4 deficit and scored its seventh run on a base hit to right field with one out. The Bulldogs nearly scored one more on the same hit, but Van Buren County right fielder Lukas McEntee made a throw that would save the game, and the Warriors’ season.

“I saw he had a good base hit, and the guy was rounding the base,” McEntee said. “I knew I had to make a play, or he was going to score.”

McEntee scooped up the ball and fired a one-hopper into the catcher’s mitt. Izaak Loeffler made the tag at home plate, and the Warriors could breathe a big sigh of relief, at least for the time being. McEntee, a senior, had delivered the Warriors a second out in the most tense moment of the night.

“Your heart is kind of going up and down and racing, but it’s just baseball,” McEntee said. “You just have to roll through it.”

With two outs and relief pitcher Jackson Manning on the mound, a ball slipped by to the backstop allowing the Mediapolis runner to scamper over to third base, but Manning finished the game with a strikeout swinging and the Bulldogs were no more.

To get to that point, the Warriors had to come back from an early 2-0 deficit. Van Buren County scored one in the fourth and five runs in the fifth to take a 6-2 advantage. Mediapolis cut that lead to 6-4 with two in its half of the fifth, but sophomore Tyler Stoltz delivered a two-run single in the sixth to give the Warriors some breathing room.

Stoltz had two of the biggest hits of the night. He had the last three RBIs of the game for Van Buren County, and scored on a wild pitch to aid the Warriors’ offense.

“It felt amazing,” Stoltz said. “I didn’t have a big game against them the first time, so it felt nice coming back strong.”

The first time Stoltz was referring to was a 9-5 loss in mid June. In that game, Van Buren County saw a 5-2 lead slip away in the last two innings.

“It’s great to see our guys grow throughout the year,” said Warrior head coach Chad Scott. “We’ve kind of been talking about that game for a long time.”

Taylor Sprouse earned the win on the mound, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits and one walk, while striking out seven batters over five innings of work.

Stoltz went 2-for-3 with three RBIs at the plate. McEntee was 1-for-3 with a double, and both Bailey Roen and Lucas Fett knocked in runs.

The Warriors (12-15) will now take on Mid-Prairie (16-10) in the Class 2A Substate 6 semifinals on Saturday. That game will be back in Mediapolis.

“We’re going to ride these emotions, and certainly enjoy it tonight,” Scott said. “Then, we’ve got to get back to work tomorrow.”