Baseball: Greene County rides early lead to 7-2 victory over Ogden
By BRANDON HURLEY
Sports Editor
Lead-off batter Chase Stoline’s two-hits, two-RBI and four stolen bases and freshman Austin Delp’s six-inning, eight strikeout performance helped propel the Greene County baseball team to a 7-2 road victory over Ogden Tuesday night.
The Rams (10-15) poured in three runs in the opening inning to take a 3-0 lead they would never relinquish. Greene County scattered six hits in the game and added single runs in the fourth and the sixth and two insurance runs in the seventh to secure the victory.
“They walked a lot of our kids. We only had six hits but they had trouble finding the strike zone,” Greene County head coach Mark Sawhill said. “We scored most of those runs on fastballs.”
The home team Bulldogs were able to muster their two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Delp gave up just four hits in six innings of work, allowing one earned run on two walks for his third victory of the season. The freshman has been tough to hit in his five starts, boasting a 2.06 ERA and a .221 opponent batting average across 34 innings.
“His off-speed, probably his change-up, was helping him the most last night. Which set up his fastball,” Sawhill said.
Stoline finished the game two-for-two with a pair of singles and a walk. Senior Branden Miller also collected two hits as did sophomore Wade Adcock. Delp was one-for-four from the plate and knocked in a pair of runs.
RAMS STUMBLE AT ROLAND-STORY
Riding a three-game win streak entering Friday’s contest with Roland-Story (July 1), Greene County couldn’t extend it to four, and fell 9-2 to the ninth-ranked (Class 2A) Norsemen in Story City.
Adcock kept the Roland-Story hitters quiet for the opening two innings, but a three run third inning blew the game open. The Rams put their only two runs on the board in the fourth, but four more runs by the Norsemen in the bottom half of the inning and two more in the fifth sealed the victory.
Sophomore catcher Tom Gannon led the way offensively for the Rams, scattering two hits in three at bats to go with a run scored. Miller went one-for-three and scored Greene County’s other run. The Rams could only manage three hits in the game, as Roland-Story sophomore Zach Shadlow struck out 10 in seven innings of work. Shadlow is 4-1 on the season with a 1.67 ERA. The Norsemen (25-9) have been tough to score on all season long, as they have compiled a dazzling 2.17 team ERA to go with 242 strikeouts.
Adcock pitched four innings, allowing five runs on six hits to go with three strikeouts. Delp came in to pitch the final two innings, giving up just one hit and no runs while striking out two.
Greene County has just two games remaining as they visit South Central Calhoun tonight and travel to Saydel next Wednesday, July 13 before they open up district play.
“We’ve been working on our hitting, we haven’t been hitting very well,” Sawhill said. “We need to get things down so we can do it correctly. We will probably have an intrasquad scrimmage next week since we have a big layoff. Just trying to keep the kids focused on what’s important.”
Reid Lamoureux continues to lead the Rams in batting with a .500 average and 35 hits. Miller and Adcock share the team lead in RBI with 16 apiece. Stoline’s 16 stolen bases are a team-high.
The Rams face second-ranked Boone at 7 p.m. July 15 in Boone in substate two district four.
The Toreadors (22-4), are coming off a state tournament appearance in 2015 and have been running through their competition as of late, including an 11-1 mark in the Raccoon River Conference.
Boone boasts a blistering 1.84 team ERA led by sophomore Dresden Wilson, who is 5-1 with a 1.47 ERA in 43 innings.
Prior to Tuesday’s loss to Dallas Center-Grimes (4-3), the Toreadors had won seven straight.
“We are going to go out and do the best we can, hopefully we get some hits and the defense plays the best it can,” Sawhill said.
The Rams have won five out of their last six after starting the season with just three wins in their first 16 outings.
The July 15 winner will play the victor of Ballard-Gilbert July 18 in Boone.
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