A-P baseball stopped in substate final

MARSHALLTOWN – In the midst of a historic season, Roger Oberhauser didn't want Aplington-Parkersburg baseball to stray from what had been working.

With a potential first-ever trip to the state baseball tournament on the line in last Tuesday's Class 2A substate final, the Falcons' head coach made sure his players stayed aggressive in all facets, but an experienced Van Meter team was able to take advantage of opportunities more often in a 5-1 victory in Marshalltown.

The win sent the Bulldogs back to the state tournament for the fourth time in the last six years. A-P's season ended with a school record for wins, finishing 22-8 overall.

"We weren't gonna play on our heels," Oberhauser said. "We've been aggressive these last 12 wins and we wanted to stay that way. They just made a few more plays than we did."

Van Meter started the scoring in the third inning, with two runs coming home on a Mitch Pomeroy bases-loaded single.

From there, the Bulldogs continued to add incrementally to their lead with one run in the next three innings. JJ Durflinger finished 4 for 4 at the plate for Van Meter with an RBI, with Pomeroy adding two hits and three total runs batted in.

Errors harmed A-P at times, including a two-out error in the fifth inning that scored Van Meter's fourth run of the game, but the Falcons stayed in range for the duration of the game and made plenty of strong defensive plays.

Carter Cuvelier went five and two-third innings on the mound for the Falcons, scattering eight hits with six strikeouts and one walk.

"Maybe a couple of the errors might have made a difference, but we didn't allow that big inning," Oberhauser said. "Cuv hasn't given in all year and the defense did not give in."

Read more in this week's Eclipse.