Twin Cedars Downs North Mahaska 10-0 Sabers Return to State By Mike Helle Drew Carlson may bat seventh in the lineup, but tonight he swung the biggest bat as Twin Cedars downed North Mahaska 10-0 to earn a trip to the state baseball tournament. Carlson hit a two-run home run in the first inning. His long ball followed a RBI single by Garret Pettyjohn and a two-RBI double by Hunter Embray. Twin Cedars built a 5-0 lead after one inning of play. The Sabers added a run in the bottom of the fourth inning, following singles by Collin Still, Coy Moore, and Pettyjohn. Carlson continued to heat it up at the plate, with a RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Sabers continued to build their lead. The game ended in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI walk by freshman Trace Embray, which put the ten-run-rule into effect. Moore got the win on the mound for Twin Cedars. He allowed just one hit and four walks, while striking out five. Moore didn’t appear to have his best stuff in the first couple of innings, but double plays by the Saber defense got TC out of both innings cleanly. Moore got stronger as the game went along, facing the minimum number of batters in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, while picking up four of his five strikeouts. Trent Roose took the pitching loss for North Mahaska. Roose, who came into the game 11-1, gave up seven runs, on 10 hits and a walk, in four plus innings of work. Jacob Sherburne came on in relief. He pitched one and two-thirds innings, giving up three runs, on four walks and two hits. Carlson wasn’t the only Saber with two hits in the game. Otis Roby, Pettyjohn, and Still each had two hits. H. Embray matched Carlson with three RBI’s. Moore, Corey Harrell, H. Embray, and Brent Parker each had one hit. After the game, Carlson put everything into perspective, Last year we were excited when we made it to state. This season we EXPECTED to make it. We arent going to state to hang out. We are going to state to win it all. North Mahaska coach Kevin Kelderman was very gracious in defeat. Twin Cedars is the best team that we have played this year. They have outstanding pitching, but more importantly, everybody in their lineup can really hit the ball. They dont have the drop off in the bottom half of the lineup like everyone else we have faced. The Sabers will continue their quest for a state title on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. when they take on Underwood. The Eagles play in the Western Iowa Conference and finished second to Treynor. They are now 23-7 on the season. This will be Underwood’s first ever state baseball tournament trip. Twin Cedars will be making their third appearance in the summer classic. TC is now 33-0 and has been ranked #1 in class 1A the entire season. The Sabers qualified for state in 2003 when the Class 1A tournament games were still played in Carroll, Iowa. Twin Cedars returned to the state tournament last season at Principal Park in Des Moines. North Mahaska lost their starting centerfielder and second best offensive threat Brock Pollpeter, at the end of the regular season and before tournament play began. Pollpeter, who had contemplated graduating early, decided to graduate with his class and then play baseball as long as he could this summer. The reason he didn’t play out the season is because he had made a commitment to our great country. Pollpeter had to leave because he is now a United States Marine. As the late Paul Harvey would say, “And now you know the rest of the story”.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 11:44:47 +0000
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