(Carlisle, IA) — Carlisle’s baseball team had the home field advantage and they used it, hitting three home runs and putting 6 runs on the board in the 6th inning to pull away from Harlan 14-5 a Class 3A Substate Final.
Cyclones starter Jonas Reynolds ran into trouble in the first inning when he loaded the bases on two hit batters and a walk. One run scored on a RBI grounder by Trevor Shepherd and another run scored on a wild pitch.
The Wildcats showed off their power in the bottom of the 3rd when Isaac Burk and Carter Berg hit back to back homers to give Carlisle a 4-0 lead.
Owen Johnson retired the first 9 Harlan hitters he faced but Foxx Argotsinger reached on a walk in the top of the 4th. Colton Schneider reached on an error and Argotsinger scored all the way from first base to get the Cyclones on the board. After Harrison Kjergaard popped out, Reynolds got Harlan back in the game with a 2 run HR to make it 4-3 Carlisle.
Reynolds, however, gave two of those runs back in the bottom of the 4th on a balk and RBI single from Ben Lancaster. With a 6-3 lead, Berg hit his 2nd HR of the game leading off the bottom of the 5th to knock Reynolds from the game. Jeffrey Gross came to the mound and gave up a double to Shepherd who would score on a RBI double from Brady McGriff to make it 8-3.
Harlan came back against Johnson in the top of the 6th when Kjergaard led off the inning with a line shot HR and after Reynolds flied out, Cade Nelson hit another Cyclone HR to cut the lead to three, 8-5.
However, the wheels fell off the wagon in the bottom of the 6th as Carlisle sent 12 batters to the plate, the first 8 all reached base and the Wildcats scored 6 runs on just 3 hits against two Harlan pitchers. That put the game away and put Carlisle into the state tournament for the 12th time in school history and 2nd year in a row.
Johnson got the win for Carlisle with a complete game and throwing just over 110 pitches, allowing 5 runs on 5 hits, walking 2 and struck out 11.
Post Game Interview with Harlan Head Coach Heath Stein
Line Score
Harlan (25-9) 5 Runs, 5 Hits, 1 Error, 4 LOB
Carlisle (26-9) 14 Runs, 11 Hits, 1 Error, 7 LOB
W: Owen Johnson
L: Jonas Reynolds
Time: 2:06
