The Turkey Valley bench gathers around home plate to congratulate Brennen Drilling (1) following his fourth-inning grand slam on his first at-bat of the season. (Driftless Multimedia photo by Becky Walz)
By Logan Manderfield
It was a fine start to the week for the Turkey Valley baseball team as the Trojans (10-11, 8-6 UIC) picked up two wins in three tries.
Challenged
On Monday evening, the Turkey Valley Trojans (9-10, 7-5 UIC) took on the MFL MarMac Bulldogs (11-7, 8-4 UIC) in a two-game conference series.
In game one MFL MarMac got out to an early 2-0 lead at the top of the first inning. However, Turkey Valley responded at the bottom of the second inning with a grand slam by senior designated hitter Brennan Drilling for his first home run and his first at-bat of the season. This gave the Trojans a 4-2 lead, which was lost to the Bulldogs at the top of the fourth inning, when MFL MarMac took a 5-4 lead. The Bulldogs also scored another run at the top of the sixth inning and another three runs at the top of the seventh inning. Unfortunately, the Trojans were unable to respond and were shut out for the last five innings of the game, solidifying the Bulldogs’ victory.
On the mound for the Trojans were Noah Hanson and Carson Busta, combining for six strikeouts.
TV had seven hits in the contest, including Drilling’s home run and a double and single by Caleb Kurtenbach. Chase Hayek provided two of the remaining five hits. Oliver Schmitt and Garrett Dietzenbach punched out the other two hits for the Trojans.
In the second game, Turkey Valley got out to a massive 7-0 lead after scoring four runs at the bottom of the first inning and three runs at the bottom of the second inning, including Drilling’s second homer of the night, this time a three-run bomb. MFL MarMac was able to recover and ended up cutting the lead to just three runs after scoring one run at the top of the fourth inning at three runs at the top of the fifth inning, making the score 7-4. However, the Trojans scored another two runs at the bottom of the sixth inning, which allowed Turkey Valley to extend their lead to five runs. Oliver Schmitt closed the game out at the top of the seventh inning, giving the Trojans the victory.
Five Trojans scattered nine hits in the line-up with Kurtenbach hitting one out of the park to go with a single and three RBI. Drilling gathered three RBI as well with a home run. Hanson was 2-for-4 with a double while Hayek was 2-for-3 with a double. Schmitt and Dietzenbach had one hit apiece.
“Game two was a good bounce-back game. It’s always nice to send the seniors out with a win on their last home game,” said Coach Dan Stepan.
R H E
MFL 2 0 1 2 0 1 3 9 11 1
TV 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 7 1
Noah Hanson (LP) – 5IP, 5R, 6H, 3BB, 4K; Carson Busta (RP) – 2IP, 4R, 5H, 2K
HR – Brennen Drilling 1; 2B – Caleb Kurtenbach 1; 1B – Chase Hayek 2; Oliver Schmitt 1; Kurtenbach 1; Garrett Dietzenbach 1; RBI – Drilling 4
R H E
MFL 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 4 6 1
TV 0 4 3 0 0 2 x 9 9 1
Schmitt (WP) – 3-1/3IP, 3R, 4H, 5K; Calvin Bodensteiner (SP) – 3-2/3IP, 1R, 2H, 3BB, 4K
HR – Kurtenbach 1; Drilling 1; 2B – Hanson 1; Hayek 1; 1B – Hanson 1; Schmitt 1; Hayek 1; Kurtenbach 1; Dietzenbach 1; RBI – Kurtenbach 3; Drilling 3; Hanson 1; Bodensteiner 1; SB – Hanson 1; Hayek 1
Another good W
In their last conference game of the season, Turkey Valley took down the Clayton Ridge Eagles (5-17, 4-11 UIC) on the road 13-3 in Garnavillo.
At the top of the first inning, Turkey Valley took a 1-0 lead, and at the bottom of the second inning, the Trojans scored another two runs, extending the lead to three runs. The Eagles started to mount a comeback and brought the Trojans’ lead back down to just a single run at the bottom of the third inning, but that would soon change. At the top of the fourth inning, Turkey Valley went on a tear and scored four runs. They repeated their success once again at the top of the fifth inning when they scored another five runs. During the same time frame, Clayton Ridge only scored one run, making the score 12-3. The Trojans were able to extend the lead to 10 runs at the top of the sixth inning, which allowed junior pitcher Russell Nieman, who took over from freshman pitcher Logan Busta, to end the game an inning early.
The Trojans collected nine hits in the game with Hanson going 3-for-3 at the plate with two doubles and driving in four runs. Carson Busta added a double and four RBI with Bodensteiner, Hayek, Kurtenbach, Drilling and Treyton Hulbert all having one hit.
“It was good to see the bats continue to have a little life in them,” noted Coach Stepan.
R H E
TV 1 2 0 4 5 1 x 13 9 3
CR-C 0 0 2 1 0 0 x 3 6 2
Logan Busta (WP) – 4IP, 3R, 3BB, 6K; Russell Nieman (Save) – 2IP, 3BB, 1K
2B – Hanson 2; Carson Busta 1; 1B – Hanson 1; Bodensteiner 1; Hayek 1; Kurtenbach 1; Drilling 1; Treyton Hulbert 1; RBI – Hanson 4; C. Busta 4; Bodensteiner 1; Dietzenbach 1; Drilling 1; Hulbert 1; SB – Hanson 1
Looking to this week
Turkey Valley has one game left this week as the Trojans will travel to Charles City Friday, June 23, for JV and varsity action starting at 5 p.m. Monday, June 26, the Trojans will be at Postville for a varsity twinbill at 5 p.m.
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