OFFENSE LEADS ANKENY OVER DAVENPORT NORTH

The Ankeny Hawks defeated the Davenport North Wildcats 14-4 in six innings Wednesday afternoon at Principal Park to move on to the semi-finals. Nick Belzer, behind solid run support, picked up the win after tossing five innings of three-run ball and fanning seven and walking none. Zach Fries took the brunt of Ankeny’s offensive explosion and suffered the loss, allowing eleven runs (seven earned) and on six hits and four walks while striking out two.

Ankeny wasted no time against Zach Fries scoring seven runs and sending thirteen batters to the plate in the first. Tanner Buenting took a lead off walk and moved to third on a Garrett Fort single. A Joel Lanning fielder’s choice loaded the bases for Keaton McKinney. The clean-up batter drove home Buenting for Ankeny’s first run.

Fries hit Ross Larson and walked Matt Johnson to plate two more runs with no outs. A wild pitch and a Brent Jones RBI ground out added another two. Fries hit Chad Norris to put runners on the corners and make his way back to the top of the order. Buenting and Fort knocked followed with two singles in their second at bats of the inning to plate two more.

The Wildcats responded with two runs in the second. Fries reached second on a throwing error by the shortstop and his courtesy runner Chris Connell moved to third on a Jared Ringsdorf single. Nate Durand doubled to left to score Connell. Matt Heim’s RBI ground out plated Ringsdorf for Davenport North’s second run.

Fries tossed a 1-2-3 third to get his offense back to the plate. The Wildcats did not disappoint, scoring another run on a Jacob Tebrake double and a fielding error in right to cut the Hawks’ lead to four.

Ankeny added insurance in the bottom of the inning with two down. Buenting walked and came around to score his second and the Hawks’ eighth run on an error by the third baseman. Fort connected for his third hit on the day and scored on McKinney’s single to make it 9-3. Larson was hit by a pitch for the second time, loading the bases for Matt Johnson. Two more runs scored on what should have been an inning ending fly out to right that was dropped by Bryan Beutel who struggled in the sun.

Jared Ringsdorf relieved Fries in the fourth and promptly struck out Brent Jones, but the designated hitter reached third on a throwing error by the catcher. Chad Norris sent a sacrifice fly to left to drive in Ankeny’s 12th run.

Tyson Valentine took the hill in the sixth for the Hawks and allowed one run on two hits. Chase Roehm singled home TeBrake for the Wildcats’ fourth run. Brent Jones prevented any more attempts at a comeback for Davenport, blasting a two-run shot to right to end the game in the sixth.

Quad-City Times: Slow start sinks Davenport North

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