By Sam Parsons
The Oskaloosa Indians baseball team traveled to Eddyville on Wednesday night for a late-season non-conference matchup against the EBF Rockets. The Indians entered the contest as the favorites, with a much more experienced squad that had a better record (14-11 compared to 5-21), and they took care of business on the road.
The game began with the Rockets starting strong, as they jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Austin Langstraat reached on a leadoff walk, and he was later driven in by Carter Fisher with an RBI single.
However, Oskaloosa recovered quickly enough. In the third inning, Tyler Edgar reached base with a 1-out double. That was immediately followed by Jake North reaching on a throwing error, which allowed Edgar to score from second base, tying the game at 1-1.
A silent fourth inning preceded productive frames in each of the last three innings for the Osky bats. In the fifth inning, North and Trey Parks recorded RBIs with a single and a sacrifice fly, respectively, to give the Indians a 3-1 lead. They promptly expanded that lead in the sixth inning with three more runs: Jaden DeRonde knocked one in when he reached on an error with the bases loaded, with Tate Peterson and Grady Kool each scoring on the play; then Edgar came through again with a sac fly of his own to plate Maddux Ashman. The Indians would score one more insurance run in the seventh inning when Caden Johnson reached on an error and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch.
All the while, Oskaloosa’s pitching kept the Rockets’ offense quiet. Linus Morrison, Jaden DeRonde, and Tyler Edgar split the pitching duties, with Morrison and DeRonde each delivering three innings and Edgar finishing off with a perfect seventh inning. The trio combined for 14 strikeouts on the night (7 for Morrison, 4 for DeRonde, 3 for Edgar) and only allowed 3 hits and 2 walks. All three pitchers will be available for Oskaloosa’s next game.
The final score was 7-1 in favor of Oskaloosa. The Indians improved their record to 15-11 on the season. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont dropped to 5-22 with the loss.
Oskaloosa will travel to Fort Madison next Monday for their next game action.
