Thursday preps: Warrior bats break out at West Burlington

Ottumwa Courier, Iowa
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

May 28—WEST BURLINGTON — After struggling to make contact at the plate on Tuesday in a season-opening loss to Chase Stansberry and the Pekin Panthers, the Van Buren County baseball team broke out in a big way at the plate on Thursday in the Southeast Iowa Superconference south division opener.

Ryan Wolf and Casey Yochum each collected four hits for the Warriors with Wolf coming within one base of hitting for the cycle in a 25-1 win over West Burlington. Wolf drove in six runs, connecting on a pair of doubles while drilling one of Van Buren County's first three home runs, as the Warriors jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the very first inning before putting the Falcons away with 13 runs in the top of the fourth.

Yochum added a home run, driving in two runs while scoring three times. Treyton Bainbridge homered and drove in four runs in the win for the Warriors.

Van Buren County (1-1, 1-0 SEI south) heads to Bloomfield on Saturday to compete at the new West Complex in the Davis County tournament. The Warriors will face Grinnell in the second semifinal after Fairfield and Davis County opens the tournament.

Indianola 10, Fairfield 0

INDIANOLA — Brody Angstead and Nate Smithburg collected the only two hits for the Trojans in a impromptu road loss to the Indians. The game was originally scheduled to be played in Fairfield until rain forced the contest to be moved.

Brady Blake homered and drove in four runs while scoring twice as part of a three-hit effort for Indianola. Noah Johnston added a two-run homer against the Trojans.

Fairfield (0-2) heads to the Davis County tournament on Saturday.

PREP SOFTBALL

West Burlington-Notre Dame 7, Van Buren County 4

WEST BURLINGTON — Logan Kelley homered and drove in three runs for the Falcons in a Southeast Iowa Superconference south division-opening win over the Warriors.

Van Buren County made late noise in the contest, scoring four runs in the top of the seventh after being shutout for six innings by sophomore pitcher Lauren Summers. The Warriors drew eight walks and collected four hits against Summers, who countered with eight strikeouts to help clinch the win.

Van Buren County (2-1, 0-1 SEI south) will look to bounce back at Cardinal on Tuesday.