Wolverines rally to defeat Comets, 12-11, in extra innings

By John Burbridge
sports@charlescitypress.com
WAVERLY — The late, great Don Drysdale often referred to it as the “Big, Bad Inning” when he did color commentary during Major League Baseball telecasts.

Like the “Big, Bad Wolf” … or “Wolverine” for that matter, it can sneak in and infiltrate early, like after a lead-off single followed by a walk, or even surprise you late in the frame after you’ve been lulled into a false sense of security after recording two quick outs.

During Friday’s non-conference baseball game that had Charles City “hosting” Dike-New Hartford at Wartburg College, the Comets had built a 10-run lead (11-1) through four innings against the undefeated and Class 2A No. 2-ranked Wolverines.

Facing a pitching staff that has been holding the opposition to a .179 batting average to go with its 1.95 collective earned run average, the damage the Comets inflicted in four innings against D-NH was the most any team has done against it this season.

But after the Wolverines nipped into the deficit by scoring 2 runs in the fifth, the “Big, Bad Inning” reared its head in the sixth.

With a combination of in-between bounces, a few would-be third-out “mulligans”, and tension about a tight strike zone, the Comets got bit for 6 runs in the sixth before the Wolverines scored 2 more in the seventh to tie it ahead of scoring the eventual winning run in the eighth for a 12-11 final in extra innings.

Despite the stunning comeback, Charles City was in position to pull out a harder-than-expected victory with the tying and winning runs in scoring position with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but sophomore Zach Waulters — who pitched three innings of shutout relief for the win — was able to record one of five of his strikeouts to seal the win, helping his team improve to 14-0 for the season.

Charles City rallied for multiple runs in the first four innings while inflicting the Wolverines with their own “Big, Bad Inning” in the third where the Comets scored 5 runs.

Charles City pounded out six extra-base hits, including a 2-run home run from Atticus Parrott — the first homer of his varsity career; a double and triple from Colton Slinger, who drove in 3 runs; doubles from Cole Reams and Elliott Sinwell, who had each two hits in the game; and a run-scoring double from Jace Cajthaml.

With freshman Ian Collins recording two hits, the Comets rapped out 13 against the otherwise stingy Wolverines.

Zach Starbuck had three hits, and Reece Bueter and Ely Sohn each had two hits and doubled for the Wolverines.

The following day, Charles City participated in an multi-team invitational at Saint Ansgar.
Against Kee, the Comets were up 2-0 going into the bottom of the fifth before the Kee-Hawks scored a run in the frame’s latter half before rallying for 3 runs in the sixth on way to a 4-3 win.

Reams had three hits, including two doubles, and drove in all three of the Comets’ runs. Collins and Wyatt Stevenson each had two hits in the loss.

Against the hosting Saints, who are ranked No. 9 in Class 1A, the Comets were shut out 4-0.

Collins had two hits off Saint Tate Mayer, who gave up only five of them while throwing the complete-game shutout.

With the three losses over the weekend, the Comets fell to 6-6. They will try to rebound Monday with a Northeast Iowa Conference home game against New Hampton.

DIKE-NEW HARTFORD 12, CHARLES CITY 11
DNH AB R H BI CC AB R H BI
Parker Kiewiet 4 1 1 3 Colton Slinger 5 0 2 3
Devon Kollasch 2 0 1 1 JJ Ritter 5 1 1 0
Nathan Moore 1 1 1 0 Cole Reams 4 2 2 0
Zak Wauters 3 0 0 1 Jace Cajthaml 2 1 1 1
Nick Reinicke 1 0 0 0 Tait Arndt 4 1 1 1
Reece Beuter 4 2 2 2 Elliott Sinwell 4 0 2 2
Ely Sohn 4 1 2 1 Wyatt Stevenson 3 1 1 1
Matt Reinicke 4 2 0 0 Atticus Parrott 4 2 1 3
Zach Starbuck 5 3 3 1 Ian Collins 3 2 2 0
Ryan Moore 5 1 1 0 *Ryan Zuspan 0 1 0 0
Tim Koop 4 1 2 1
TOTALS 37 12 13 10 TOTALS 34 11 13 11
DIKE-NEW HARTFORD 001 026 21 — 12
CHARLES CITY 225 200 00 — 11
LOB–DIKE-NEW HARTFORD 8, CHARLES CITY 6. ERR–Drew Sonnenberg, Jace Cajthaml, Cole Reams. 2B–Reece Beuter, Ely Sohn, Colton Slinger, Elliott Sinwell, Jace Cajthaml. 3B–Colton Slinger. HR–Atticus Parrott. HBP–Jace Cajthaml, Wyatt Stevenson. SACF–Devon Kollasch, Parker Kiewiet, Jace Cajthaml. SACB–Tait Arndt. SB–Colton Slinger.
DIKE-NEW HARTFORD IP H R ER BB SO HR
Devon Kollasch 2.67 10 9 9 1 1 1
Nathan Moore 2.33 2 2 2 0 0 0
Zak Wauters 3.00 1 0 0 2 5 0
CHARLES CITY
Elliott Sinwell 4.00 6 3 3 0 2 0
Cole Reams 1.67 5 6 2 2 2 0
JJ Ritter 2.33 2 3 2 3 1 0
PB–Zak Wauters, Atticus Parrott. WP–Zak Wauters, Elliott Sinwell, Cole Reams. SO–Zach Starbuck, Nick Reinicke, Matt Reinicke (2), Ryan Moore, JJ Ritter, Elliott Sinwell, Jace Cajthaml, Tait Arndt, Atticus Parrott, Cole Reams. BB–Reece Beuter, Ely Sohn, Zak Wauters, Matt Reinicke, Nathan Moore, Jace Cajthaml, Ian Collins, Cole Reams.

KEE 4, CHARLES CITY 3
CC AB R H BI KEE AB R H BI
Colton Slinger 3 1 1 0 Tyson Cota 2 1 0 0
JJ Ritter 3 0 0 0 Josh Walleser 3 0 1 2
Cole Reams 4 0 3 3 Cade Rasque 3 0 0 0
Jace Cajthaml 3 0 0 0 Damon Weber 3 0 1 0
Tait Arndt 3 0 0 0 Dylan Walleser 2 0 1 0
Elliott Sinwell 2 0 0 0 Buddy Hill 2 0 0 0
Wyatt Stevenson 2 0 2 0 Ryan Whalen 3 0 1 0
Atticus Parrott 2 0 0 0 Micah Reinke 2 1 1 0
Ian Collins 3 2 2 0 Nate Winters 2 1 0 0
*Dalton Dibert 0 1 0 0
TOTALS 25 3 8 3 TOTALS 22 4 5 2
CHARLES CITY 000 020 1 — 3
KEE HIGH 000 013 x — 4
LOB–CHARLES CITY 7, KEE HIGH 8. ERR–Buddy Hill. 2B–Cole Reams (2), Josh Walleser. HBP–Colton Slinger. SACB–Elliott Sinwell, Jace Cajthaml, Atticus Parrott, Buddy Hill. SB–Damon Weber.
CHARLES CITY IP H R ER BB SO HR
Carter Johanningmeier 5.00 4 1 1 3 1 0
Jace Cajthaml 0.33 1 3 3 2 0 0
Ian Collins 0.67 0 0 0 2 0 0
KEE HIGH
Cade Rasque 7.00 8 3 3 2 2 0
PB–Cole Reams. BALK–Jace Cajthaml, Ian Collins (2).
SO–Colton Slinger, Jace Cajthaml, Ryan Whalen. BB–JJ Ritter, Wyatt Stevenson, Josh Walleser, Cade Rasque, Tyson Cota (2), Micah Reinke, Nate Winters, Dylan Walleser.

SAINT ANSGAR 4, CHARLES CITY 0
CC AB R H BI SA AB R H BI
Colton Slinger 3 0 1 0 Adam Williams 4 1 2 3
JJ Ritter 3 0 0 0 Ryan Cole 3 1 1 0
Cole Reams 3 0 0 0 Mark Williams 4 0 1 1
Jace Cajthaml 3 0 0 0 Colin Kramer 2 0 0 0
Tait Arndt 3 0 1 0 Carter Salz 2 0 0 0
Elliott Sinwell 3 0 0 0 John May 3 0 1 0
Wyatt Stevenson 3 0 0 0 Cade Duckert 2 0 0 0
Atticus Parrott 2 0 1 0 Braden Powers 3 1 1 0
Ian Collins 2 0 2 0 Jack Sievert 2 2 1 0
TOTALS 25 0 5 0 TOTALS 25 5 7 4
CHARLES CITY 000 000 0 — 0
SAINT ANSGAR 004 100 x — 5
LOB–CHARLES CITY 4, SAINT ANSGAR 7. ERR–Carter Johanningmeier, Jace Cajthaml, Cole Reams, Ryan Cole, Mark Williams. 2B–Adam Williams. SB–Ian Collins, Colin Kramer, Carter Salz, Adam Williams, Jack Sievert, Ryan Cole.
CHARLES CITY IP H R ER BB SO HR
Carter Johanningmeier 2.00 4 3 2 0 1 0
Wyatt Stevenson 0.67 1 1 0 3 1 0
Atticus Parrott 1.33 1 1 1 2 1 0
Jace Cajthaml 2.00 1 0 0 0 2 0
SAINT ANSGAR
Tate Mayer 7.00 5 0 0 0 3 0
PB–Atticus Parrott. WP–Wyatt Stevenson. BALK–Tate Mayer. SO–JJ Ritter, Cole Reams (2), Cade Duckert (2), Braden Powers, John May (2). BB–Colin Kramer, Cade Duckert, Carter Salz, Jack Sievert, Ryan Cole.