HC Baseball Falls to LC on Walk-Off, 2-1

HC Baseball Falls to LC on Walk-Off, 2-1 -

(6-5-25) – A pitcher’s duel went down to the final at-bat between Hawkeye 10 rivals.

A 1-out, RBI single by the Titans Drew Heller just over the outstretched arm of Cyclones first baseman Brett Heese would score the winning run and Harlan Community would fall in walk-off fashion, 2-1, to Lewis Central.

“It was a good battle of those guys. It always is,” said Cyclone Coach Heath Stein. “We knew it was going to be a good ball game. They're young, they're talented. They do a lot of good things.”

Cyclones got a brilliant pitching performance from Jonas Reynolds, who went 6 1/3 innings giving up just two runs and striking out 6. Stein feels Reynolds has the variety of pitches that makes him tough against any lineup.

“Jonas has, well, four pitches, actually. The fastball, curveball, a very good change up, and the knuckleball that he mixes in. So that's kind of unique out of him, but he has the ability to throw those pitches, basically in any count.”

Harlan Community had two on with nobody out in the 6th after a lead-off single by Hayden Soma and a hit-by-pitch for Brett Heese, his 3rd of the game.

Lewis Central then brought in Brady Hetzel to relieve Aaron Kreps and he struck out the next two batters before giving up a walk to Weston Reisz to load the bases. Hetzel then got Joseph Gross to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the inning and keep the game knotted at 1. He retired 6 of the 7 batters he faced to get the win.

The Cyclones scored their lone run when Heese came home on a passed ball in the 4th. The Titans first run was scored by Hetzel on a sac fly by Brooks Bond in the 1st.
Stein feels his team is playing up to the level of competition but hoped the bats would be better prepared at this point then they have been.

“As I sit here in the baseball shed that we've been in since January, getting a lot of swings in, I thought that we'd be a little bit better with the stick early on, just more prepared, but it really hard to simulate live at-bats and all that stuff. So, we're still working through that.”

The loss ends Harlan Community’s three-game winning streak. The Cyclones wrap up their week with a trip to LeMars Friday before a doubleheader at Glenwood on Monday.

View past scores by visiting the Iowa High School Athletic Association's website, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union website,
or Iowa Quik Stats