Ace Adkins? Tyus pitches like it again as West beats City High, 5-1

IOWA CITY – Ladies and gentlemen, meet Tyus Adkins. He's Iowa City West's ace, though he and his coach are pretty hesitant to say that.“No, I'm not the ace,” Adkins said, after he spun a nifty little three-hitter at Iowa City High in a 5-1 win Tuesday night at West. “I would say there are four or five of us that are good. Any of us can win on any given night.”But no one can boast the pitching numbers of the Trojans junior. He improved to 8-0 by doing what he's done all season: throw strikes, change speeds and get help from his defense.Adkins lowered his earned run average to 1.67 by not allowing an earned run. City High scored on him with two outs in the sixth on a throwing error, but that was it.Adkins walked two and struck out four, going out with a flourish by whiffing the side to end the game. He threw 93 pitches, 59 for strikes.“We've been debating that,” West coach Charlie Stumpff said of the Adkins-ace theory. “(Ace) is kind of a dirty word for us right now … But Tyus' numbers suggest that. He hasn't lost, he doesn't walk anybody, he fields his position being a third baseman when he's not pitching. He's an athlete out there, helps himself with pickoffs. All those things. We'll figure out something (pitching wise) once tournament times comes.”That's here in about a week and a half, and West (26-7, 18-4 and first place in the Mississippi Valley Conference's Mississippi Division) is the top seed in its substate again. The Trojans, ranked third in Class 4A, are seeking a fifth consecutive state tournament appearance.They got a nice game offensively from leadoff hitter Ezra Reiners, who walked, was hit by a pitch, homered and had a run-scoring double. West scored twice in the second inning and again in the third and fourth for an early 4-0 lead.City High (16-18, 12-12) won the opener of this home-and-home series Monday night, 6-4.“Last night was a big factor,” said Adkins. “We really wanted this one. We came out and were inspired to win this game.”“We've got a real salty eight or nine (players),” Stumpff said. “Our lineup is really good, we'll swing up and down. We'll catch the ball pretty well … Pitching, we've got about four guys like Tyus. They throw in the low 80s, they're going to be fine. We don't have anybody like a Mitch Keller at Xavier or Derek Burkamper at Muscatine. We'll battle people. If we're clean, we'll be fine. It's just basic baseball.”

AT IOWA CITY WEST

Iowa City High 000 001 0-1 3 3

Iowa City West 021 101 x-5 6 2 Quinton Forrester, Nate Goddard (3), Tyler Stika (4), Josh Crosby and Crosby, Stika. Tyus Adkins and Colin Baker. WP-Adkins (8-0). LP-Forrester (0-3).

Highlights: Adkins allowed three hits and two walks, striking out four in a complete-game pitching effort for West (26-7), which improved to 18-4 in the Mississippi Valley Conference' Mississippi Division. Ezra Reiners was 2-for-2 with a solo home run and RBI double. Adkins also added two hits offensively. Eric Kenney had a walk and double for City High (16-8, 12-12)