Comets deny Chickasaws of outright NEIC title with DH split

Press Staff Report

WAVERLY — The Charles City Comets did not win the Northeast Iowa Conference baseball title this year.

They just complicated it.

The New Hampton Chickasaws, ranked in the Top 10 in Class 2A, had a chance to win the NEIC outright if completing a doubleheader sweep against the Comets, who were “hosting” the DH at Wartburg College’s Hertel Field on Tuesday.

New Hampton won the first game, 5-3, but after jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first in the second, the Comets responded with 7 runs in the latter half of the frame and went on to win the nightcap, 8-5.

With Waverly-Shell Rock sweeping its DH against Oelwein and Decorah taking a pair from Crestwood that same night, the Chickasaws, Go-Hawks and Vikings all finished NEIC play with 14-4 records.

One person we can blame for this mess is Charles City senior Dylan Salinas.

After clubbing his third home run of the season in the first game, Salinas continued to give broader meaning of the term “long relief” in the second game while striking out 10 and yielding two hits and one run in five and 1/3 innings pitched for the win with Cole Reams picking up the save.

Reams and leadoff hitter Colton Slinger both had two hits in the second game for Charles City, which finished fourth behind the three-way tie in the NEIC with a 9-9 conference record.

Overall, the Comets are 13-11 with two regular-season games remaining — Thursday at home (field conditions pending) versus Saint Ansgar and Saturday against Lewis Central at a site and time to be determined.

New Hampton, which got two hits and two runs scored from slick-fielding shortstop Mason Cleveland in the first game, is now 24-5 overall.

Game One

NEW HAMPTON 5, CHARLES CITY 3
NEW HAMPTON          AB R H BI CHARLES CITY         AB R H BI
Josh Fenske           3 2 1 0 Colton Slinger        3 1 1 0
Mason  Cleveland      4 2 2 0 Cole  Reams 3 0  1 0
Wyatt Stochl          4 0 0 1 Dylan Salinas         4 1 1 2
Aden Zwanziger        4 0 1 1 Jace Cajthaml        3 0 0 0
Noah Frye             4 0 1 1 Tait Arndt            2 0 1 0
Ryan Anderson         1 0 0 0 JJ Ritter            1 1 0 0
Keegan Kane           2 0 0 0 Theo Arndt            3 0 0 0
Max Babcock           3 0 0 0 Wyatt Stevenson      2 0 1 0
Brayden Fisher        2 0 0 0 Noah Schlader         3 0 1 0
*Preston Pickar       0 1 0 0 Elliott Sinwell       3 0 1 1
TOTALS               27 5 5 3 TOTALS             27 3 7 3
NEW HAMPTON                   203 000 0 — 5
CHARLES CITY                  001 100 1 — 3
LOB–NEW HAMPTON 8, CHARLES CITY 8. ERR–Dylan Salinas,
Wyatt  Stevenson, Cole  Reams (3). 2B–Josh Fenske.
HR–Dylan Salinas. HBP–Ryan Anderson. SACB–Keegan Kane,
Josh Fenske, Cole  Reams. SB–Mason Cleveland, Preston
Pickar.
NEW HAMPTON                     IP H R ER BB SO HR
Noah Frye (W)                  7.00 7 3 3 4 4  1
CHARLES CITY               
Tait Arndt (L)                 3.00 4 5 1 2 2  0
Elliott Sinwell                4.00 1 0 0 2 1  0
PB–Wyatt Stochl. WP–Noah Frye. SO–Max Babcock, Noah Frye,
Keegan Kane, Noah Schlader, Colton Slinger, Theo Arndt, Cole
Reams. BB–Brayden Fisher, Keegan Kane, Ryan Anderson (2),
Colton Slinger, JJ Ritter, Jace  Cajthaml, Wyatt Stevenson.

Game Two

CHARLES CITY 8, NEW HAMPTON 5
NEW HAMPTON          AB R H BI CHARLES CITY         AB R H BI
Josh Fenske           2 1 0 0 Colton Slinger        3 1 2 1
Mason  Cleveland      5 1 1 1 Cole  Reams 4 1  2 1
Wyatt Stochl          2 0 1 0 Dylan Salinas         3 0 1 1
Aden Zwanziger        2 0 0 1 Jace Cajthaml        3 1 0 0
Connor Hackman       0 0 0 0 Tait Arndt            2 0 1 1
Noah Frye             3 1 0 0 Noah Schlader        2 1 0 0
Ryan Anderson         2 0 0 0 Theo Arndt            3 1 1 1
Keegan Kane           3 0 1 2 JJ Ritter            2 1 1 1
Max Babcock           4 0 1 0 Wyatt Stevenson      1 1 0 0
Brayden Fisher        2 1 0 0 Elliott Sinwell       2 0 0 0
*Hunter Pesek         0 1 0 0 *Alec Elsbernd        0 1 0 0
TOTALS               25 5 4 4 TOTALS             25 8 8 6
NEW HAMPTON                   410 000 0 — 5
CHARLES CITY                  700 010 x — 8
LOB–NEW HAMPTON 12, CHARLES CITY 6. ERR–Aden Zwanziger,
Mason  Cleveland, Dylan Salinas (2), Noah Schlader, Jace
Cajthaml, Cole  Reams. 2B–Mason  Cleveland, Dylan Salinas.
HBP–Brayden Fisher, Wyatt Stochl, Keegan Kane, Josh Fenske
(2), Dylan Salinas. SACB–Wyatt  Stevenson. SB–Aden
Zwanziger, Max Babcock, Mason  Cleveland, Noah Frye, Max
Schwickerath, Preston Pickar, Cole  Reams.
NEW HAMPTON                     IP H R ER BB SO HR
Aden Zwanziger (L)             0.00 5 7 7 2 0  0
Connor Hackman                 0.33 0 0 0 1 0  0
Mason  Cleveland               5.67 3 1 0 2    4 0
CHARLES CITY               
Theo Arndt                     1.00 2 4 4 3 0  0
Dylan Salinas (W)              5.33 2 1 1 5 10  0
Cole  Reams (S)                0.67 0 0 0 0   1 0
PB–Wyatt Stochl, Cole  Reams. WP–Connor Hackman (2), Theo
Arndt. SO–Wyatt Stochl, Aden Zwanziger, Mason  Cleveland
(2), Noah Frye (3), Keegan Kane (2), Josh Fenske (2), Noah
Schlader, Theo Arndt, Jace  Cajthaml (2). BB–Brayden
Fisher, Wyatt Stochl, Aden Zwanziger (2), Noah Frye, Josh
Fenske, Ryan Anderson (2), Colton Slinger, JJ Ritter,
Elliott Sinwell, Jace  Cajthaml, Wyatt Stevenson.