Cyclones drop 4th game to open season
Wednesday night on the road, the HCHS varsity baseball team took on the Sioux City East Black Raiders, dropping that game 10-6.
The damage primarily came in the second and third innings, where the Cyclones gave up a 3 runs and 6 runs the following inning.
“We did a nice job to put up a 5-spot in that second inning,” said Cyclones Head Coach Heath Stein. “When we went back on defense, we struggled to throw the ball over the plate and basically handed them a 3-spot to hop back in the game and that continued into the third inning where they had six runs.”
During the top of the second inning, the Cyclones scored five runs with contributions all throughout the lineup. Quinn Koesters got three hits. Hayden Soma, Jozef Reisz and Stephen Leinen had two hits each, along with Cael Goshorn and Matthew Sorfonden adding a hit of their own.
“Top to bottom, our lineup was good out there against Sioux City East,” Stein said. “We got guys on base, we moved them, we got big hits when we needed them in that second inning especially. We were hitting the ball hard.”
Koesters got the ball for the Cyclones pitching one inning, striking out two batters in a 13-pitch inning.
“Quinn has come out of the pen twice this year and he’s done a very nice job,” Stein added. “He limits his walks and we look forward to him doing that and maybe snag a couple more innings.”
Goshorn and Brock Lemrick each went 2 1/3 innings, striking out two batters. Goshorn walked five batters, allowing five runs on three hits. Lemrick gave up one run on two hits.
Cyclones lose in close fashion to Tigers
24 hours after playing the Sioux City East Black Raiders, the Cyclones battled the ADM Tigers, giving up less runs, losing in close fashion 5-3.
Franz Reisz got the ball to start for the Cyclones, pitching two innings, striking out four batters, also walking three. Reisz also struggled with control hitting three batters.
“Franz wasn’t necessarily bad,” said Cyclones Head Coach Heath Stein. “He’s such a big guy that sometimes it’s hard to repeat some mechanics and he struggled to be consistent.”
Braydon Ernst came in to pitch in the top of the third when Reisz was removed after hitting a few batters. Ernst struck out one batter and gave up just two runs on two hits. Stein was pleased with his performance.
“Braydon came in and got us out of a jam,” he said. “He kept us in the ball game and did a really nice job.”
Offensively, the Cyclones scored three runs, two of which was knocked in by Cael Goshorn who had two hits, one double and one single. Matthew Sorfonden contributed with two hits, along with Hayden Soma, Stephen Leinen and Jozef Reisz who each had a hit.
The Tigers had just three hits from Benjamin Smith, Christian Madison and Grant Jensen but it was enough to win the game.
On the mound, Luke Greth pitched six innings for them, throwing 92 pitches and striking out six Cyclones.
Cyclones return home for first win
Friday night, the Cyclones returned home to Jim Goeser Field and earned their first win of the season 10-7 over the Bishop Heelan Crusaders behind a strong pitching performance by Senior Cyclone Stephen Leinen.
“To get the first win is always good in front of the home crowd on a nice Friday night against a really good team in Bishop Heelan, so it’s a good feeling,” said Cyclones Head Coach Heath Stein.
Leinen pitched five innings, including a 1-2-3 top of the first inning where he struck out two batters. Leinen needed just four pitches to get out of the top of the third inning. He ran into a jam in the top of the fifth inning, giving up four runs, but struck out Junior Crusader George Tsiobanos to end the inning.
“Stephen is just a competitor out there,” Stein said. “He’s really calm in the moment which is a very big plus for him which is why he can execute pitches. He walked one in five innings, threw 85 pitches and just went at them. He was executing his curveball a lot.”
The Cyclones jumped out to an early lead when Hayden Soma hit a groundball to shortstop, was thrown out, but Cade Sears scored from third base, putting the Cyclones up 1-0.
In the top of the second inning, the Crusaders tied the game on an RBI single by Tsiobanos. Leinen worked his way out of the inning, allowing just one run when a groundball was hit to Weston Reisz, he flipped the ball to Quinn Koesters ending the inning.
The Cyclones took their lead back when Brett Heese stepped to the plate knocking in Koesters on an RBI single, putting them up 2-1. On the very next pitch, Leinen contributed with a 2-run double off the center field wall, lighting up the Cyclones dugout and giving his team a 4-1 lead. Matthew Sorfonden came to the plate soon after, reaching on an error, allowing Leinen to score adding another run to put the Cyclones up 5-1.
The Crusaders stormed back in the top of the fifth inning scoring four runs to cut the Cyclones lead to one run. The Cyclones answered back in the bottom half of the inning, getting those four runs right back.
“The four spot in the fifth after they got their four spot was absolutely huge,” Stein said. “They cut it down to one run and then we lengthened that gap again and that was huge too to put those runs on the board at that time.”
Weston Reisz came in to pitch the final two innings of the game, throwing 45 pitches, striking out one batter. Reisz gave up two runs on two hits and hit a few batters, but in the end, the Cyclones hung on for the win.
“It’s good to put guys like that in these moments just so they’ve been there and they can handle it down the road,” Stein added. “He [Reisz] is another guy who’s not afraid of anything and can execute all of his pitches. He bared down and got it done.”
The Cyclones will be back at home Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. for a doubleheader against the 4-4 Creston Panthers. The Panthers are led by Cael Turner with eight hits and seven runs batted in. Turner has two wins on the mound with 23 strikeouts and a 1.62 earned run average. Stein talked about what will be key to victory.
“Throwing strikes, making plays, have good at bats up and down the lineup and just keep grinding,” he said.