Comets rout Cadets 13-3 to split NEIC baseball DH

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Sometimes a pitcher’s mound can feel like a deserted island.

That’s where Charles City freshman Carter Cajthaml must have felt he was stranded in the top of the third inning of the second game of Wednesday’s Northeast Iowa Conference baseball doubleheader against Crestwood.

While Cajthaml was pitching with a broken thumb on his glove hand, his teammates also seemed to have sore glove hands as the Comets made three errors in a span of four Cadet plate appearances allowing 2 unearned runs to cross the plate to give Crestwood a 3-0 lead.

But just when his defense appeared to have abandoned him, Cajthaml got a major lift from senior third baseman Colton Anderegg, who leaped high in the air to snare a line shot by Cadet senior Ty Cotant that — with the bases loaded — would have broke game open. Instead, it resulted in an unassisted double play before Cajthaml got the next batter to fly out.

Then for the second time in as many doubleheaders, the Comets rallied in the bottom half of the third inning of the second game — this time for 8 runs — before salvaging a DH split with a 13-3 victory that was stopped after Charles City rallied for 5 runs in the fifth.

Cajthaml was credited with an abbreviated no-hitter after he struck out the side in the fourth inning and sent the Cadets down in order in the fifth while retiring nine straight when including Anderegg’s unassisted DP.

In his first varsity pitching win of his career, Cajthaml struck out six, walked two and hit two batters who both scored.

Luke Jacobs was 2 for 3 with 4 RBIs, Kaden Busema was 2 for 3 with a 2-RBI double, and Holden McInroy was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs for the Comets, who bounced back from a 6-3 defeat in the first game while improving to 2-8 overall and 2-6 in the NEIC.

The Cadets (1-10, 1-7) picked up their first win of the season with a 6-3 victory in the first game.

Cotant got the complete-game win while striking out seven and yielding two walks and 2 earned runs. Yet he didn’t completely handcuff the Comets as Charles City rapped 12 hits off him with Jack Hanson, Holden McInroy and Anderegg each hitting safely twice, and Kaden Buseman tripling off the right-field fence.

The Comets will be back in action on Friday when they host Oelwein.

Game One

CRESTWOOD 6, CHARLES CITY 3

CRESTWOOD            AB  R  H BI  CHARLES CITY         AB  R  H BI

Ethan Bergan          4  0  2  0  Carter Cajthaml       3  1  1  0

Aiden Skoda           4  3  1  1  Kaden Buseman         4  0  1  0

Gage Moser            4  1  2  1  Holden McInroy        4  1  2  0

Ben Isaacson          2  1  1  1  Jack Hanson           4  1  2  0

Ty Cotant             3  0  1  1  Colton Andregg        3  0  2  1

Jackson Byrnes        3  0  2  1  Luke Jacobs           4  0  1  0

Dane Curtain          2  0  0  0  Noah White            2  0  1  0

Nolan Johnson        1  0  0  0   Deontae Roe          2  0  1  0

Austin Hoppe          4  0  0  0  Jordan Foster         2  0  0  0

Dylan Shelton         4  1  1  0   Mathais O’Brien    1  0  1  0

Logan Knapp           2  0  0  0

Zach Schoeck         1  0  0  0

TOTALS               31  6 10  5  TOTALS               32  3 12  1

CRESTWOOD                     220 002 0 — 6

CHARLES CITY                  000 200 1 — 3

LOB–CRESTWOOD 11, CHARLES CITY 10. ERR–Ty Cotant, Jackson

Byrnes, Noah White. 2B–Jackson Byrnes, Colton Andregg.

3B–Kaden Buseman. HBP–Ethan Bergan, Jackson Byrnes.

SB–Ben Isaacson (2), Aiden Skoda (3), Dylan Shelton, Ethan

Bergan, Gage Moser (3), Holden McInroy (2), Jack Hanson.

CRESTWOOD                       IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR

Ty Cotant (W)                  7.00   12    3    3    2    7    0

CHARLES CITY       

Sawyer Hanson (L)              1.00    2    2    2    3    1    0

Noah White                     4.67    7    4    4    2    8    0

Jordan Foster                  1.33    1    0    0    0    2    0

BALK–Sawyer Hanson. SO–Ty Cotant (2), Ben Isaacson, Dylan

Shelton (3), Gage Moser, Dane Curtain (2), Jackson Byrnes,

Austin Hoppe, Carter Cajthaml, Holden McInroy, Luke Jacobs,

Logan Knapp (2), Jack Hanson, Jordan Foster. BB–Ty Cotant,

Ben Isaacson (2), Aiden Skoda, Dane Curtain, Carter

Cajthaml, Colton Andregg.

Game Two

CHARLES CITY 13, CRESTWOOD 3

CRESTWOOD            AB  R  H BI  CHARLES CITY         AB  R  H BI

Ethan Bergan          3  1  0  0  Carter Cajthaml       2  2  1  2

Aiden Skoda           3  0  0  0  Kaden Buseman         3  2  2  2

Gage Moser            3  0  0  0  Holden McInroy        3  2  2  2

Ben Isaacson          1  1  0  0  Jack Hanson           2  1  1  0

Ty Cotant             1  0  0  0  Colton Andregg        4  2  1  0

Austin Hoppe          2  0  0  0  Luke Jacobs           3  1  2  4

Nolan Johnson         2  0  0  1  Vinny Benning         3  1  1  0

Tyler Gibson          2  0  0  0   Mathais O’Brien    1  0  0  1

Dylan Shelton         1  1  0  0  Jordan Foster         0  0  0  0

Deontae Roe          0  1  0  0

Logan Knapp           0  0  0  0

Brennan Ruzicka      2  1  0  0

TOTALS               18  3  0  1  TOTALS               23 13 10 11

CRESTWOOD                     012 00 — 3

CHARLES CITY                  008 05 — 13

LOB–CRESTWOOD 3, CHARLES CITY 8. ERR–Ethan Bergan (2),

Austin Hoppe, Logan Knapp (3), Jordan Foster. 2B–Kaden

Buseman. HBP–Ty Cotant, Jack Hanson. SACB–Jordan Foster.

SB–Ty Cotant, Ben Isaacson (2), Kaden Buseman, Carter

Cajthaml (3), Holden McInroy, Colton Andregg, Luke Jacobs.

CRESTWOOD                       IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR

Jackson Byrnes (L)             2.67    5    7    7    5    1    0

Gage Moser                     1.67    5    6    4    4    1    0

Austin Hoppe                   0.00    0    0    0    0    0    0

CHARLES CITY       

Carter Cajthaml (W)            5.00    0    3    1    2    6    0

WP–Jackson Byrnes. SO–Ty Cotant, Tyler Gibson (2), Nolan

Johnson, Dylan Shelton, Gage Moser, Brennan Ruzicka, Colton

Andregg. BB–Ben Isaacson, Dylan Shelton, Deontae Roe (2),

Kaden Buseman, Carter Cajthaml (2), Holden McInroy, Luke

Jacobs, Logan Knapp, Jack Hanson.