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TMCNet: Tigerhawks hold off pesky Royals, win 7-5

[June 15, 2012]

Tigerhawks hold off pesky Royals, win 7-5

COLFAX, Jun 15, 2012 (Newton Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Losing not only the game, but also offensive leader Jake Alexander on Wednesday night, the Colfax-Mingo baseball team just needed a pick-me-up on Thursday.
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And that's exactly what it got.

Led by two RBIs each from Connor Hainer and Camden Borts, who also picked up the victory on the mound, the Tigerhawks fended off a charging Colo-Nesco to pick up a 7-5 victory and some confidence on the side.

"This was a huge night," C-M coach Steve Glenn said. "We made eight errors (Wednesday) night and lost 16-2, so to come back and be able to hang on is good. They're not the best team around, but they battle and they scrap." The Tigerhawks (6-8, 2-6 Heart of Iowa Conference) wasted no time getting on the board as Hainer reached base in the first inning, promptly stole second and third, then came home on an RBI groundout by Trent Pease. Borts then contributed his first RBI of the game a few at-bats later, driving in Chad McLain to give C-M a 2-1 lead.

Borts then turned in a few shutout innings after that while the Tigerhawks added three more runs in the third. Justin Fisher led off with a triple and was knocked in by Hainer, who once again stole second and third before scoring on a bad pickoff move. After McLain reached on a walk and made it to second on a passed ball, Borts smacked deep double to drive the score to 5-1.

"We've been very confident up until we played Gilbert," Borts said. "We're hitting the ball way better than we did earlier in the season, and now we're still shooting for big wins against big schools." Colo-Nesco had apparently seen enough at that point and began to push back a bit from there on out. The Royals landed two runs in the top of the fourth on back-to-back RBI singles by Wesley McDonald and JT Adams, but C-M escaped with inning with a heads-up tag of Adams at second base.

Senior Tyler Annis got one run back for C-M in the bottom of the fourth on a perfectly-executed double steal with Fisher. That run loomed large in the top of the sixth when Colo-Nesco loaded the bases with no outs and chased Borts from the mound. Annis took over from there and recorded two-straight strikeouts, but the Royals were able to push two runs across with an RBI single and an error in the outfield before Annis induced a groundout to end the threat.

"That was good damage control," Glenn said. "They got the two runs, but with the bases loaded with no outs, we're lucky to get out of there with just two runs. Without having Jake we had to go to Tyler, and he did a nice job." Hainer delivered his second RBI of the game in the bottom half of the frame for some insurance, delivering courtesy runner Blake Summy from second before stealing second for a third time. Annis picked up from where he left off, knocking the Royals down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh to seal the victory.

Overall, the Tigerhawks swiped nine bases in the game, led by five from Hainer. McLain added two runs scored and Borts, who has improved his average by more than 300 points in the last two weeks, finish a perfect 3-for-3.

"Our key is base running, and it has been every since I've been a coach," Glenn said. "We're still looking for that big marquee win against a Gilbert, PCM or North Polk, or somebody that has some clout that we know we can play with." The Tigerhawks will have multiple opportunities for their marquee win this weekend, as they'll head to Nevada for a doubleheader today and will take part in the Cardinal Classic at Eversman Field this weekend.

Colfax-Mingo 7, Colo-Nesco 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E CN -- 1 0 0 2 0 2 0 5 8 4 CM -- 2 0 3 1 0 1 X 7 8 3 WP: Borts, 2-1 (5 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 4 K), LP: Hill ___ (c)2012 the Newton Daily News (Newton, Iowa) Visit the Newton Daily News (Newton, Iowa) at www.newtondailynews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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