Comets stun Van Buren

By SCOTT JACKSON, Courier sports writer

June 27, 2009 01:30 am

— KEOSAUQUA – The Cardinal baseball team beating defending SEISC South champ Van Buren 5-4 on Friday might look like a simple case of a big upset and a simple stumble for a team on the way to winning another conference crown.
A closer look at the Comets one-run victory over the Warriors, however, suggests that perhaps more than just a stumble occurred on the way to Van Buren retaining their standing as conference kingpin. With Friday’s results in Keosauqua, Cardinal may be on pace to eventually share, or even take over, Van Buren’s place at the top of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference southern mountain.
Another strong start by the Cardinal baseball team highlighted by another big fly from former Ottumwa Bulldog Colton Millard and a check-swing, tie-breaking RBI infield single by Tanner Thorne propelled the Comets to handing Van Buren their first loss in conference play. While snapping the Warriors long winning streak of 12 games and extending their own winning streak to six, Cardinal sent shockwaves throughout the conference as the Comets and New London, each with just two losses in the SEISC South, move within a game of the defending champs from Keosauqua.
“This is huge for these guys. They really wanted this one,” Cardinal head baseball coach Rick Rachford said as his Comets jumped high into the air in the middle of the Van Buren baseball diamond after the final out was recorded. “I’m not going to say we played a completely flawless game, but we were tough when we needed to be tough. We battled the whole way, got a huge first inning and got a great win. It’s a big cross-town rivalry and one against a great team.”
It was a rare sight for Van Buren fans as the left they Warriors’ baseball diamond. After all, there has only been one other day this entire season thus far the Van Buren has been on the losing end of the scoreboard coming all the way back in just the Warriors third and fourth games of the season, both at the Davis County Tournament, on May 30.
“It was a good game. It was good back-and-forth action,” Van Buren head coach Chad Scott said. “I’m proud of Rick and his kids. They played like a team that really wanted it.”
Big opening at-bats have propelled Cardinal in the second half of the season as the Comets have staked big leads on the way to winning their past six contests. The story was the same on Friday against senior Van Buren pitcher Michael Boyd, who was hoping to join fellow 5-0 Warrior ace Jory Heckenberg in pitching a shutout against Cardinal as Heckenberg did in Eldon three weeks ago in a 10-0 Van Buren win.
Conner Schlegel and Jake Scherer made that difficult for Boyd to accomplish with back-to-back singles to open the game. Millard then ended the shutout hopes of Boyd by nailing a three-run homer, his fourth of the season and third in the Comets’ current winning streak.
“Colton’s been as hot a hitter as anyone on the team,” Rachford said of Millard’s presence on the team. “Once again, he got a good pitch to hit and didn’t miss it. That was obviously huge, 3-0 is always a great way to start, especially against a team the caliber of Van Buren.”
The longball was followed soon after by an RBI double from Comet starting pitching Coty Ridgeway. With five of the first six batter getting on against him, the unbeaten Boyd found himself down 4-0 before even being able to take a seat.
“For whatever reason in the past few games the guys have come up to plate ready to go gangbusters,” Rachford said of the Comet’s hitting mentality early in games as of late. “I think the solid factor of having power behind our lead-off hitters gives guys the confidence to feel like we go out and get runs in bunches. That’s something we didn’t have at this time last year.”
Rigeway’s RBI double would be the last Comet baserunner against Boyd for a long time. After seeing five of the first six Cardinal batters reach base, Boyd retired the next 14 in order with 10 of his eventual 11 strikeouts mixed in.
While Boyd regained control of Cardinal’s offense, Van Buren began to cut away at the lead at the plate. The Comet defense helped that cause as a throwing error and a pair of wild Rigeway pitches allowed for Van Buren to score three second-inning runs with Joe Aguirre’s RBI single proving to be the Warriors only hit in the frame.
The Warriors finally pulled even in the fifth inning as Spencer Bartholomew’s RBI single scored Tel Smith with Van Buren’s fourth run of the night and knocked Ridgway out of his first start of the season. The Comets’ normal closer gave way to the relief efforts of A.J. McElderry, who hit Lewis Russell to load the bases for Van Buren with one out and the game tied.
It would then be Cardinal’s catcher that would be the center of the decisive moments of the game. After a grounder to short led to a force out at home, the incoming Heckenberg clipped the leg of Comet backstop Thorne, leading to a runner interference call for a third out at first to end the inning.
After a Millard lead-off single in the sixth, courtesy runner Tyler Goodell stood a base away from tying the game with two outs. That’s when Thorne’s swinging bunt just stayed fair and forced a Bartholomew throw to first. Thorne beat out the single and with no one in position to cover home, Goodell scored in front of diving Warrior third basemen Heckenberg at the plate to score the decisive run on the night.
“We had a total meltdown against Van Buren earlier this year, down 1-0 after five innings and losing by 10. This time, the guys were ready to battle for the entire game,” Rachford said of his team’s ability to bear down with the game on the line. “That double play call to end their chances in the fifth gave us the confidence to scratch out a run in the sixth. The guys are playing awesome baseball right now. They are really pumped up.”
“I don’t think this was a wake-up call as much as it was a chance for our kids to learn moving forward,” Warriors head coach Scott said of what his team could take away from their first conference loss. “When we started throwing the ball around in the sixth, they scored the deciding run. We need to learn from this game that there are still things we need to clean up in our game.”
Both teams return to the action today. Cardinal heads to Sigourney for a varsity contest while Van Buren takes part in the Pekin Baseball Tournament today with action starting at 10 a.m.
Van Buren still has to travel to New London, who in turn still has to make-up a game at Cardinal. After last year winning out to rally for a conference crown, the Warriors (14-3, 10-1) hope the Comets (8-2, 6-2) aren’t about to turn the trick on Van Buren this year.
“You’ve really got to hand it to Cardinal. They’ve got a lot of the same qualities that we’ve been successful with over the past two years,” Scott said of the Comets. “They’ve got good pitching, they hit the ball really well. They do the things to win. They’re a team you’ve got to respect and watch out for.”
“I told the guys tonight if we come here to Van Buren, play a solid game and give yourselves a chance to win, anything could happen from here on out,” Rachford added. “They’ve got games left, we’ve got games left. We saw it last year. Anything can still happen.”
CARDINAL 5, VAN BUREN 4
Cardinal – 400 001 0 – 5 6 3
V. Buren – 030 010 0 – 4 4 2
Cardinal battery – Coty Ridgway (4 1/3IP, 3H, 4R, 2ER, 5K, 3BB) and A.J. McElderry (W, 2-2) (2 2/3IP, H, 2K, HBP), Tanner Thorne catching.
2B – Ridgway.
HR – Colton Millard.
Hits – Millard 2-4, Ridgway 1-2, Ryan Giltner 1-3, Thorne 1-3, Conner Schlegel 1-4.
RBI – Millard 3, Ridgeway, Thorne.
Runs – Giltner, Tyler Goodell, Millard, Schlegel, Jake Scherer.
Van Buren battery – Michael Boyd (L, 5-1) (7IP, 6H, 5R, 5ER, 11K, 2BB), Spencer Bartholomew catching.
Hits – Joe Aguirre 1-3, Bartholomew 1-4, Boyd 1-4, Tel Smith 1-4.
RBI – Aguirre, Bartholomew.
Runs – Aguirre, Bartholomew, Lewis Russell, Smith.