Diamond gems: Boyd Skelley, Hayden Vickroy pitch back-to-back shutouts in Iowa City Liberty’s sweep of Iowa City High

NORTH LIBERTY — Boyd Skelley and Hayden Vickroy provided pitching and a steady offering of strikes.

Their Iowa City Liberty teammates supported them with sturdy defense that waded into the exceptional at times. The offense produced just enough to reward the efforts.

Skelley and Vickroy pitched back-to-back shutouts and powered the Lightning to 3-0 and 2-0 victories over Class 4A No. 3 Iowa City High on Monday night at Liberty. Everything came together for the Lightning’s first sweep of the Little Hawks.

“We’ve been harping at our guys to throw strikes and (Monday night) they did that,” Liberty Coach Tom Cronk said. “Both of those guys filled up the zone all night long. Then we played great defense behind them. Some guys in different positions and they just made plays and that’s what we have to do. We’ve had that in bits and pieces, but we were able to do it consistently for 14 innings.”

Skelley took the mound opposite City High (13-5) lefty and University of Iowa commit Cade Obermueller. Both delivered the pitchers’ duel expected.

Skelley scattered five hits with six strikeouts and just two walks, spoiling Obermueller’s three-hitter over 6 2/3 innings. Skelley needed just 89 pitches, staying ahead of Little Hawk batters most of the game by managing to consistently hit the zone with fastballs and breaking balls.

“It switches things up and makes them guess a little more,” Skelley said. “Both of us being able to do that, having a lot of control tonight and our catchers doing a good job with framework, we had a lot of things go our way with our pitching.

“Not to (lessen) our performances. The people behind us played well and that allowed us to do what we did.”

Weather delayed the start of the game 30 minutes. Skelley overcame an upset stomach, eating a little too much during the extended pregame. Once the game started, he began to feel better.

“When I was warming up, my arm felt really well,” Skelley said. “Mentally, I wasn’t super ready. My stomach kind of hurt before the game. Once I got out on the bump and warmed up for the top of the first that is when I felt alright. Once I got out of the first inning, got those first three outs, that’s when I settled in, took some drinks of water, focused on my breathing and then pounded the zone from there on out.”

Vickroy performed similarly in the nightcap. He surrendered three hits, allowing just five total baserunners without any reaching third base. Vickroy retired the first eight batters and nine straight from the end of the fourth to the start of the seventh.

“Building off what Boyd had, we had a ton of momentum for the next game,” Vickroy said. “We’ve had times where we won the first game and lose the second one. This was something we talked about all week. You’ve got to win the second one.”

Like Skelley, Vickroy was able to throw all of his pitches for strikes. They threw them with confidence at any count and situation against a City High team that averaged more than seven runs a game before Monday.

“I was always comfortable with the pitch, no matter what was called,” Vickroy said. “Having a catcher that knows how you pitch is big. The defense making plays are huge. Those are big time plays that keep the momentum on your side.”

The Liberty defense was solid, committing just one error each game. An infield throwing error in the opener and an errant pickoff play were the lone miscues. The Lightning (8-8) had more outstanding plays, like Evan Chandler’s throw to cut down a runner at the plate to end the top of the first and his diving grab in left field with two on and the tying run at the plate to end Game 1.

In the nightcap, Liberty also received a diving catch from Luke Meyers in right and a crucial inning-ending double play in the fourth when City High put the tying run on with none out. Vickroy retired Obermueller on a called third strike and then induced a 5-4-3 double play started by Jackson Khamphilanouvong to Skelley to Jack Funke.

“That saves us and keeps my pitch count down,” Vickroy said. “An amazing play with a great turn and an awesome scoop by Funke at first. You can’t beat that. It really changed the game. I feel like that’s when I knew we had this game.”

City High stranded eight runners in the first game, but Liberty managed to scrape together a few runs and a couple in unconventional fashion. In the second inning, Owen Norris reached on a fielder’s choice and reached second on a throwing error. He advanced to third on a groundout.

Ian Gates swung and missed at a high fastball for a third strike but the ball reached the backstop, allowing Gates to reach and Norris to scamper home with the first run. Gates stole second and scored on Noah Kirk’s RBI single.

Khamphilanouvong drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth to make it 3-0.

In the nightcap, Liberty posted another two-run second. Khamphilanouvong and Jacob Turgasen led off with singles, scoring on a Jack Turgasen single and Meyers’ sacrifice bunt.

“We’re pretty athletic. We want to be aggressive,” Cronk said. “We’ve put an emphasis of trying to get extra bases and putting bunts down. Again, our guys buy into what we’re trying to do, like hit the ball the other way and then you can scratch out a couple runs here and there.”