Dyersville Beckman’s Owen Huehnergarth makes the most of his opportunity

MANCHESTER — Dyersville Beckman’s Owen Huehnergarth waited for his opportunity.

When it came, Huehnergarth capitalized.

The junior rapped an 0-2 pitch for an opposite-field single to drive in two runs and propel Class 2A third-ranked Beckman to a 5-3 victory in 10 innings over West Delaware, earning a Wamac baseball doubleheader split Thursday night at Exide Field of Beckman Sports Complex. The Hawks won the opener, 6-3.

Huehnergarth went 2-of-3 with three walks. Two were the intentional type with the chance to tie or take the lead.

“The intentional walks definitely didn’t settle well,” Huehnergarth said. “I just tried to spray it out there like (Beckman Coach) Fred (Martin) always says. It’s good to put it in play. I just tried to put my bat out there.”

Huehnergarth is one of the players the Blazers (5-3, 4-2) want up in that situation. The game-winning single plated Nate Offerman and Nick Schmidt, who was the starter, subbed and came back to pitch the 10th to get the save.

“He’s really learned to be a good hitter,” Martin said about Huehnergarth. “He did a good job. He took that outside pitch to left field.”

Huehnergarth had a double in the fifth that led to the Blazers’ first run. The first intentional pass was followed by Cam Krapfl’s two-run single that gave the Blazers a 3-1 lead. Beckman had struggled with clutch opportunities, stranding 11 batters through the first five innings including the bases loaded three times.

“We’ve only had two practices with the whole team for the first 30 days,” Martin said about spring sport conflicts. “The games are almost learning experiences.”

West Delaware’s Luke Kehrli forced extra innings with a two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, plating Will Halverson, who had a diving grab to prevent a run in the eighth, and Isaac Fettkether.

Kehrli got the win in the opener. He pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on just two hits. Kehrli struck out eight. He also had an RBI.

Fettkether had three hits and Kyle Cole and Will Ward added two hits apiece in the opener for the Hawks (2-4, 2-2). Cole had a solo home run to spark a four-run fifth to pull away.