West walks home a win against City High

IOWA CITY - Tanner Lohaus was walked with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to force in the winning run in Iowa City West's 8-7 victory over rival City High at Mercer Park.

But West might not have gotten that far had it not been for the outstanding relief job by sophomore Izaya Ono-Fullard.

He came into the game in the sixth inning with the score tied at 7.

He faced 14 batters, gave up no runs, one hit and two walks (one intentional) as he shut down the Little Hawk attack.

'I just trusted my coach's pitch-calling, and I felt good all game,” Ono-Fullard said. 'I threw a lot of strikes and trusted my defense behind me. I go out and try to do my job and get outs.”

Originally a starter, Ono-Fullard was moved to the bullpen to take advantage of his powerful fastball and contrasting breaking ball.

The Mercer Park radar gun had Ono-Fullard's fastball up to 86 while the breaking stuff was 69 mph.

'He is a big-time prospect,” West Coach Charlie Stumpff said. 'He's a sophomore, an elite player.

'He has two dynamite pitches. It was really good to see him compete.”

With the bases loaded in the ninth, thanks to two walks and an infield error, City reliever Ryan Brennan came in and struck out Joe Scott and was within one out of getting out of the jam when Lohaus came to the plate.

'Generally I take a pitch so I can see him first and it was a ball,” Lohaus said.

'In that situation, bases loaded, you want to take a strike first and he threw me a couple more balls.

'I was ready to go on the next pitch, and it was outside.”

For West, Nate Disterhoft knocked in two runs with two out to tie the game in the fifth after City scored five in the fifth. Spencer Wiskus had two hits and three RBIs.

Kevin Delaney had three hits and scored three runs.

Lohaus also had an RBI with a sacrifice fly for the Trojans.

City's Griffin Fellows had three hits and one RBI. Brett McCleary had two RBIs for the Little Hawks.