West From Baseball Goes 1-3, Beats 9th Ranked Newman Catholic Last Week

The West Fork Warhawks baseball team went 1-3 in a week full of competitive games versus tough opponents. The Warhawks lost their first two games of the week, 7-5 versus the Newman Catholic Knights on Monday, June 23 and 7-5 versus the Hampton-Dumont-CAL Bulldogs on Tuesday, June 24. On Wednesday, June 25 the Warhawks finished the second game of the doubleheader versus Neman Catholic from Monday that was suspended due to weather. The Warhawks won the game over the number nine ranked team in the Iowa 1A state rankings 8-4. The Warhawks closed out the week with a loss versus the Saint Ansgar Saints 7-3 on Friday, June 27. The Warhawks game on Wednesday versus Central Springs and their game on Thursday versus Clear Lake were postponed due to weather. 

In a scheduled double header versus Newman Catholic on Monday, the Warhawks and Knights were only able to finish one of the games, a 7-5 victory for the Knights. It was a back and forth game as after the Knights took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, the Warhawks responded with 4 runs in the bottom of the first. The Knights scored two runs again in the top of the second inning and added another run in the top of the third inning to take the lead back before the Warhawks would tie the game with a run in the bottom of the third inning. The Knights scored the last two runs of the game, one in the top of the sixth inning and one in the top of the seventh inning. Sophomore Braylon Shreckengost had a big day at the plate, going 1-for-3 with a single, a run scored, and 2 RBIs. Senior Nolan Shreckengost was the starting pitcher for the Warhawks and he tossed four innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out one Knights’ batter. 

Tuesday’s game would be another back and forth affair for the Warhawks. The Bulldogs would jump out to an early 3-0 lead before the Warhawks scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning to tie the game. After the Bulldogs retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth, the Warhawks scored two runs in the top of the fifth inning to take their first lead of the game. However the Bulldogs scored the last three runs of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning to steal the game from the Warhawks. Nolan Shreckengost had a big day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two singles, an RBI and two runs scored. Senior Ashyr Wiseman was the Warhawks starting pitcher and he tossed one and two-thirds innings, allowing one run on one hit and one walk while striking out two Bulldogs’ batters. 

On Wednesday, the Warhawks played the second half of a rain suspended game from Monday in their second game versus Newman-Catholic. After falling behind 3-0, the Warhawks scored eight unanswered runs with two runs in the top of the second and third innings and four runs in the top of the fourth inning. The Knights pushed across one more run but the Warhawks held on to hand the number nine team in the state their sixth loss of the season. Senior Trevor Despenas had a big day at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two singles and two RBIs. Eighth grader Braden Kuhlemeier was the starting pitcher for the Warhawks and pitched three innings before rain suspended the game. In those three innings, Kuhlemeier allowed three runs on four hits and four walks while striking out two Knights’ batters. 

The Warhawks ended the week with a loss versus Saint Ansgar on Friday. The Warhawks fell behind 7-0 and tried to make a late comeback, scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and one run in the bottom of the seventh inning, but that’s all the runs the Warhawks would score. Wiseman went 1-for-4 at the plate with a double and was the lone Warhawks to record an RBI. Nolan Sgreckengost was the starting pitcher for the Warhawks and he pitched four and one inning, allowing two runs on one hit and four walks and didn’t record a strikeout.

Head coach of the Warhawks, Kayden Ames, discussed how important it is to play close games versus good teams in the regular season. 

“Playing competitive games is the best way to grow as a team and gain the confidence you need to have going into the postseason,” said Ames. “We definitely prefer to come out on top in those games but in the losses it can be easier for them to see what we need to work on to turn those into wins.” 

The 1-3 week moved the Warhawks record to 9-9 on the season and 6-6 in conference. The Warhawks have their last two games of the regular season this week, before playing in the first round of the substrate playoffs on Saturday. The Warhawks played at Osage on Monday, June 30 and at Central Springs on Tuesday, July 1 before traveling to Lake Mills to take on West Hancock in the first round of the IHSAA 1A Substate 2 playoffs on Saturday, July 5 at 5:00 p.m.