Iowa Park's gamble pays off in area series win over No. 2 Wall
The Iowa Park baseball team stunned No. 2 Wall beating the overwhelming favorites 5-2 in a single-game second-round series at Abilene Christian University's Crutcher Scott Field on Friday.
In one of two single-game elimination playoff series in Class 3A Region 1 baseball this weekend, Iowa Park won a coin toss earlier in the week granting the team a one-game series instead of the traditional best-of-three series.
The coin toss was a once-in-a-lifetime gamble for Iowa Park coach Scot Green.
"This is the first time I've asked for a single-game series in my career," Green, the 14-year head coach said. "I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I know it was the right thing for our program."
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Iowa Park took full advantage of its opportunity jumping out early on Wall. In the team's first at-bat, Iowa Park had five of its six total hits and scored all five of its total runs. After the initial punch staggered Wall, Iowa Park relied on its defense and the dominant performance from starting pitcher Maddox Bernard which kept Wall reeling.
"(Green's decision to start me) gave me a boost of confidence," Bernard said. "It really got me excited to go out there and throw and do great things."
Bernard pitched four innings and held an explosive Wall offense to zero runs in the first three innings. He finished the night with the win, five walks, two strikeouts one hit and two runs given up.
For the Wall Hawks, who finished last year in the state championship game, the loss seemingly came out of left field after the team finished the season 29-4 and 14-0 in District 6-3A - outright district champions.
"It felt like immediately when we stepped inside (the stadium) today that we were just tight," Wall coach Jeremy Gordon said. "We didn't play our brand of baseball, we were nervous and we just put too much pressure on ourselves with every swing that we took, every ground ball that we took and every pitch that we threw. We just put an immense amount of pressure on ourselves because the standards and expectations were so high."
In the other Region 1 single elimination game, underdog Littlefield upset No. 6 Buhland 7-4.
Game Summary
Wall started the game at the plate as the visiting team and had a quick three outs, and then it was Iowa Parks' turn. After a quick fly-out, Roddy Williams, Braelan Lynn and Bryson Sullivan loaded the bases with three straight singles and a wild pitch from Wall's Kellan Oliver brought Williams home for the first run to get up 1-0. Then Iowa Park's Parker Allen hit a line drive down the right infield line past Wall first baseman Dylan Gidney to bring in two more runs. Oliver gave up another run and single to Iowa Park's AJ Ramirez to bring the lead to 4-0, so Oliver was pulled from the mound for Augden Hallmark. Wall had a 4-6-3 double play set up on the next hit, but an error from Gidney allowed the runner on third to score and Iowa Park took a 5-0 lead.
The game went scoreless and hitless until the fourth when Wall's Gunnar Dillard and Will Scherr got on base and Luke Kemp hit a single down the left-field line to bring in Dillard. Wall's Caleb Braden loaded the bases on a walk and after a pitch hit Matthew Steen, Scherr scored. A fly out to left field from Garren Wiggens ended the inning for Wall with the bases loaded.
Both offenses remained stagnant until the top of the seventh when Steen and Oliver hit singles to get on base, with Steen in scoring position. With two outs, Dillard - Wall's most prolific hitter - popped the ball into the air, ending the game with a final score of 5-2.
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Standout players
Wall's Kemp had three at-bats, with two hits and one RBI and made a spectacular catch in the deep middle of the field to end the second inning. Hallmark came into the game in the first inning with the bases loaded and pitched 5.2 innings giving up two hits and striking out four hitters.
Rody Williams led the way for Iowa Park's offense with two hits and a run, while the pitching combination of Bernard and Ramirez held Wall to four hits, two runs and collected three strikeouts.
What's Next?
Iowa Park advances to the Regional quarterfinal round to face off against either Jacksboro or Blanco. Iowa Park split its season series with Jacksboro who leads the series against Blanco 1-0 after a 7-0 win on Friday. The two teams finish their Area round series at Howard Payne on Saturday at 1 p.m.
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: High School Baseball: Iowa Park Stuns No. 2 Wall in Area round series
