A-P baseball falls to Spartans, Cougars

After Monday’s doubleheader with Dike-New Hartford, A-P lost 7-3 at Grundy Center on Thursday and dropped an NICL East doubleheader at Sumner-Fredericksburg by final scores of 11-1 and 15-5 on Friday.

The Falcons are 0-7 and 0-6 in the NICL East; Denver comes to town for a doubleheader today (Wednesday).

SUMNER-FRED 11-15, A-P 1-5: The Cougars won a pair of run-rule-shortened games with the visiting A-P squad on Friday.

In the fourth inning of Game 1, Garrett Hempen slapped a double for one of his two hits in the game and Tate Neymeyer brought him home for the Falcons’ only run in the contest.

Sumner-Fredericksburg scored two runs in the first, four in the second, two in the fourth and three in the fifth to end this game early.

Connor Piehl won the game for the Cougars with one unearned run allowed on five hits, two walks and four strikeouts. His A-P counterpart, Devin Davis, allowed six earned runs on 10 hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

The twinbill finale started much better for the Falcons with four runs in the first inning - Kamdon Hoppenworth brought home Nick Neuroth on a fielder’s choice and a pair of two-out errors on balls hit by Neymeyer and Ely Good led to a total of three more runs scored.

The Cougars tied the game after two innings with three hits, a walk and an error; A-P responded in the next half-inning with a double steal that scored Garrett Hempen.

Sumner-Fred took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning with a run-scoring single, a two-run error and a two-run double, all with two outs, to take a 9-5 lead to the fifth. The Cougars added six more runs in the final inning, including five more with two outs, to end the game early.

Kale Riherd was 2-for-4 at the plate for the Falcons and Will Steege added a double. Steege also pitched four innings for A-P, allowing eight earned runs on 11 hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.

GRUNDY CENTER 7, A-P 3: One big inning lifted the Spartans to victory over the Falcons in Grundy Center on Thursday.

The Falcons built a 3-1 lead by the top of the fourth on a run-scoring single by Tate Neymeyer  and a couple of runs scored on delayed double steals.

In the fifth, the Spartans roared back with six runs on four hits, a walk and two errors - five of the six runs were scored with two outs in the inning.

Garrett Hempen had seven unearned runs allowed on eight hits in six innings pitched with three walks and five strikeouts. Grundy Center’s Dayne Zinkula was the winning pitcher, striking out seven with no walks and allowing one earned run on eight hits.

Hempen and Kale Riherd were each 2-for-4 at the plate and scored one run for the Falcons, Tate Neymeyer added an RBI.

S-F 11, A-P 1

(5 innings)

WP: Conner Piehl, 5IP, 5H, 1R, 0ER, 2BB, 4K. LP: Devin Davis, 3.1IP, 10H, 8R, 6ER, 1BB, 4K.

Garrett Hempen 2-3, 2B; Tate Neymeyer RBI.

S-F 15, A-P 5

(5 innings)

WP: Tatum Nuss, 5IP, 2H, 5R, 0ER, 2BB, 2K. LP: Will Steege, 4IP, 11H, 9R, 8ER, 3BB, 7 K.

Kale Riherd 2-4; Kamdon Hoppenworth RBI; Ely Good 2B, 2 RBI; Will Steege 2B.

GC 7, A-P 3

WP: Dayne Zinkula, 7IP, 8H, 3R, 1ER, 0BB, 7K. LP: Garrett Hempen, 6IP, 8H, 7R, 0ER, 3BB, 5K.

A-P: Garrett Hempen 2-4; Kale Riherd 2-4; Tate Neymeyer RBI. GC: Brayden Sawyer 2-4, 2 2B, Sloan Klar RBI; Bryce Greiner 2-2, RBI; Patrick Brown III RBI; Colin Gordon RBI; Tate Jirovsky 2 RBI.