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West Branch blanks North Cedar at home
by Norv and Mary Coblentz · Sports · June 08, 2017


The West Branch baseball team picked up their first two wins of the young season this week.


On June 1, the Bears won a home conference game against North Cedar 5-0.

“I thought we grew up a lot tonight,” West Branch Head Coach Rich Stout said. “Pitching, Tanner (Lukavsky) did great. We played good defense behind him. He didn’t walk many. He got us a lot of strikeouts tonight. We came up with hits when we needed to. That was nice to see. We’ve been struggling at the plate, and tonight we got some clutch hits and a lot of different guys got them. It was a good team win.

“These guys, before they get done, they’re going to make people happy. It’s a learning process right now. They’re getting there.

T. Lukavsky pitched most of the shutout with Ted Bridges coming in for the final two outs.

The first North Cedar ball grounded out to Cade Aspelmeier at shortstop. He threw the ball to Bridges at first for the out. The next batter singled and stole second base. A fly out to Brady Lukavsky in center field and a strikeout ended the half inning.

Brett Schiele got a lead-off base on balls to start the West Branch half of the first. The next two batters flied out to center field, then Schiele was caught stealing to end the inning with no score.

T. Lukavsky got a strikeout, fielded a groundout, and got another strikeout in the top of the second.

The Bears were retired in order in the bottom of the second on two fly balls to center field, and a groundout to second base.

In the top of the third, T. Lukavsky got a strikeout, the Knights popped out to Cale Donovan at second base. The Knights got a single to left field, and T. Lukavsky got another strikeout for the third out.

In the bottom half of the third, Bridges got a one-out single, but a strikeout and a fielder’s choice ended the inning. There was still no score.

The Knights were retired in order in the top of the fourth on a strikeout, a ground out to Cole Tisinger at third base, and a groundout to T. Lukavsky.

The Bears scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Donovan got a lead-off base on balls, and T. Lukavsky followed with a single. Tisinger walked to load the bases. The next batter flied out to left field. Trey Eagle was hit by a pitch which scored Donovan. Nick Schreiber drew a base on balls which scored T. Lukavsky. Bridges singled to score John Hatfield, who was running for Tisinger. A pop out and a ground out ended the inning. The Bears left the bases loaded, but took a 3-0 lead.

In the top of the fourth, the first Knights batter struck out. The second batter grounded out to Donovan at second base. T. Lukavsky fielded a groundout to end the half-inning.

The Bears batted around in the bottom of the fourth and scored three runs. Donovan drew a base on balls to start the Bears. T. Lukavsky singled, and Tisinger walked to load the bases. A fly out was the first out of the half-inning. Trey Eagle was hit by a pitch which scored Donovan. Nick Schreiber walked, scoring T. Lukavsky. Bridges singled, and Hatfield, who ran for Tisinger, scored. A pop out and a ground out ended the inning. The Bears left the bases loaded but scored three runs.

In the top of the fifth, the first Knights batter grounded out to Donovan at second base. T. Lukavsky struck out the next two batters to end the half-inning.

Donovan reached on an error to start the Bears half of the fifth. T. Lukavsky reached on an error. Donovan was thrown out. T. Lukavsky advanced on a couple of North Cedar errors and scored on a wild pitch. A strikeout and a pop out ended the inning. West Branch had a 4-0 lead.

North Cedar got two runners in scoring position with one out in the top of the sixth on a walk, a single, and a sacrifice. A strikeout by T. Lukavsky and a groundout to Donovan at second base ended the threat.

In the bottom of the inning, Trey Eagle led off with a single. Schreiber sacrificed him to second base. Bridges singled. Matt Paulsen reached on a fielder’s choice, and Bridges was out at second base while Eagle scored. A strikeout ended the inning. The Bears had a 5-0 lead.

The Knights flied out to Schiele in left field in the top of the seventh. The next batter reached on an error. A walk was followed by a strikeout. The runner at second was picked off to end the game.

North Cedar Head Coach Scott Jackson declined to comment after the game.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R

NC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

WB 0 0 0 3 1 1 x 5

West Branch stats: Brett Schiele 1 walk; Cale Donovan 1 run, 1 walk; Tanner Lukavsky 1-3, 2 runs; Cole Tisinger 1 walk; John Hatfield 1 run; Brady Lukavsky 2 RBIs; Trey Eagle 1-2, 1 run; Nick Schreiber 1 walk; Ted Bridges 3-3, 1 RBI; Matt Paulsen 1 RBI. Pitching: Tanner Lukavsky pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings and earned the win. He allowed three hits and walked two. Ted Bridges pitched 2/3 inning in relief. He allowed zero hits and zero runs. He struck out one and walked zero.

North Cedar stats: Ethan Sahr 2-3; Andrew Rief 1-2, 1 walk; Austyn Sander 1-2; Tyler Thurston 1 walk; Jacob Jensen 1 walk. Pitching: Carter Johnson pitched three innings. He allowed zero runs on one hit. He walked one and struck out one. Tyler Thurston pitched tow innings. He allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits. He walked zero and struck out two. Byron Boleyn pitched one inning and took the loss for the Knights. He gave up three runs, one earned, on two hits. He walked three and struck out zero.



West Branch 7, Iowa Mennonite 3

June 2 at Kalona

The Bears won their second consecutive game with a win over Iowa Mennonite School. Trey Eagle had the team’s RBI. Tanner Lukavsky, Pete Espensen, Ted Bridges, Brady Lukavsky, Nick Schreiber, John Hatfield, and Trevor Thein each scored a run. The Bears trailed 2-1 going into the sixth inning. They scored six runs in the sixth and two runs in the seven for the win while holding IMS to one run in the sixth and zero runs in the seventh.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R

WB 0 0 1 0 0 4 2 7

IMS 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 3

West Branch stats: Brett Schiele 2-4; Trey Eagle 1 RBI; Tanner Lukavsky 1-2, 1 run, 1 walk; Pete Espensen 1-3, 1 run, 1 walk; Ted Bridges 1 run, 1 walk Brady Lukavsky 1-3, 1 walk; Cole Tisinger 1-3, 1 walk; Nick Schreiber 1 run, 1 walk; John Hatfield 1 run; Cale Donovan 1 walk; Matt Paulsen 1 walk; Trevor Thein 1-3, 1 run, 1 walk. Pitching: Ted Bridges pitched one inning. He gave up zero runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out four. Cole Tisinger pitched two hitless, scoreless innings. He walked one and struck out two. Trey Eagle pitched two innings and got the win for the Bears. He gave up three unearned runs on two hits. He walked six and struck out three.

Iowa Mennonite stats: Cole Ours 1-3, 1 run, 1 walk; Nick Yutzy 1-3; Drake Brezina1 stolen base, 1 walk; Reggie Borntrager 1 RBI, 1 stolen base; Noah Bruns 1 run; Cole Yoder 1-3, 1 run, 1 walk; Caleb Yoder 1-4, 1 RBI; Isaiah Swantz 1-2. Pitching: Blake Bontrager pitched 5 1/3 innings and took the loss for IMS. He gave up four runs, one earned, on four hits. He walked three and struck out one. Reggie Borntrager pitched 1 1/3 innings. He gave up three unearned runs on one hit and four walks. He struck out two. Nick Yutzy pitched 1/3 inning. He walked one and struck out zero.