Strong pitching leads Comets to DH sweep of Huskies

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — When a game goes sideways for a baseball team, it can chew up and spit out five or six pitchers even in a contest called short of seven innings.

That said, the Charles City Comets used a grand total of three pitchers in their doubleheader sweep of Oelwein on Friday.

Thanks in part to stellar starting pitching performances from sophomores Logan Carey and Kayden Blunt, the Comets improved to 5-3 overall while remaining perfect in Northeast Iowa Conference play (5-0).

Carey got off to a shaky start in the first game, an eventual 5-2 Comet win, when he hit a couple of Husky batters in the first inning — the first of which scored — before holding Oelwein to that single run with three Huskies left on base.

From that point on, Carey adhered to the philosophy that the nine most important outs for a pitcher — seven for a high school pitcher — are the first man up in every inning. In all but one of the following five innings, Carey got that first man out while yielding just three hits and two walks, and striking out seven in six innings.

Ryan Kvernevig and Brennan Schmidt each had two hits and an RBI for the Comets in the first game. Schmidt also closed the game after pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning.

In the second game, Blunt went the distance in a 5-1 final, pitching a 1-hitter while striking out seven and walking three.

Like Carey, Blunt retired the first man up in most innings while getting ahead in the count early. Blunt also got some help defensively, in particular from center fielder Jeremiah Chapman.

With two outs in the top of the second, Oelwein’s Jacob King hit a hard liner to the gap in left-center only to have Chapman get an excellent jump on the ball before making an all-out diving catch robbing King of extra bases.

Kaden Barry and Reed Peters each had two hits and doubled with Barry driving in 2 runs and Peters scoring 2 runs for the Comets.

GAME ONE

CHARLES CITY 5, OELWEIN 2

OELWEIN              AB  R  H BI  CHARLES CITY         AB  R  H BI

Carter Jeans          3  0  1  0  Colton Crooks         4  1  1  0

Carson Jeanes         2  1  0  0  Reed Peters           3  0  1  1

Gage Voshell          3  0  1  1  JJ Ritter             3  1  1  0

Brock Steinlage       4  0  0  0  Kaden Barry           3  0  1  0

Ray Gearhardt         3  0  1  0  Tino Tamayo           2  1  0  0

Cole Hamilton         2  0  0  0  Logan Carey           2  0  0  1

Jacob King            3  0  0  0  Jaxon Daniels         2  1  1  1

Spencer Logan         3  0  0  0  Ryan Kvernevig        2  0  2  1

Cooper Smock          2  1  0  0  Brennan Schmidt       3  0  2  1

*Cael Bohlen          0  1  0  0

TOTALS               25  2  3  1  TOTALS               24  5  9  5

OELWEIN                       100 000 1 — 2

CHARLES CITY                  021 011 x — 5

2B–Carter Jeans, Jaxon Daniels. HBP–Carson Jeanes, Cole Hamilton, Gage

Voshell. SACF–Logan Carey, Jaxon Daniels. SACB–Ryan

Kvernevig. SB–Cael Bohlen, Brennan Schmidt, Tino Tamayo.

OELWEIN                         IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR

Cooper Smock (L)               6.00    9    5    4    1    5    0

CHARLES CITY

Logan Carey (W)                6.00    2    1    1    2    7    0

Brennan Schmidt (S)            1.00    1    1    1    2    2    0

GAME TWO

CHARLES CITY 5, OELWEIN 1

OELWEIN              AB  R  H BI  CHARLES CITY         AB  R  H BI

Carter Jeans          2  1  0  0  Colton Crooks         4  1  1  1

Caden Penhollow      3  0  0  0  Jeremiah Chapman      2  1  1  0

Carson Jeanes         2  0  1  0  JJ Ritter             2  0  0  0

Gage Voshell          2  0  0  0  Kaden Barry           3  0  2  2

Brock Steinlage       2  0  0  0  Logan Carey           4  0  1  0

Ray Gearhardt         3  0  0  0  Jaxon Daniels         3  1  1  0

Cole Hamilton         3  0  0  0  Kayden Blunt          1  0  0  0

Christian Stoler      2  0  0  0   Ryan Kvernevig       1  0  0  0

Parker Sperfslage     1  0  0  0  Reed Peters           2  2  2  0

Jacob King            3  0  0  0  Brennan Schmidt       2  0  1  1

Cael Bohlen          1  0  0  0

TOTALS               23  1  1  0  TOTALS               25  5  9  4

OELWEIN                       001 000 0 — 1

CHARLES CITY                  001 202 x — 5

2B–Carson Jeanes, Kaden Barry, Brennan Schmidt,

Colton Crooks. SB–Jeremiah Chapman (2).

OELWEIN                         IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR

Carter Jeans (L)               4.67    7    3    2    3    9    0

Parker Sperfslage              1.33    2    2    2    3    1    0

CHARLES CITY

Kayden Blunt (W)               7.00    1    1    0    3    7    0