West shuts out Cedar Rapids Washington

IOWA CITY – One bizarre inning was enough for Iowa City West.The Trojans scored five runs in the third inning, even though they totaled only four hits for the game, in a 6-0 win over Cedar Rapids Washington in a Class 4A substate baseball game Friday night.West coach Charlie Stumpff expected runs would be difficult against AJ Puk, Washington's highly touted pitcher. Someone that good gets your attention, he said. Puk did pitch well, but a tough third inning with five walks was costly.“Our game plan was to come in and get base runners on and shake him up,” said West's Reid Bonner, who went 2 for 3 and drove in two runs. “That's what we did.”The Trojans will play the winner of Dubuque Senior-Dubuque Hempstead on Wednesday night for a berth in the state tournament.West pitcher Kellen Yoder threw five shutout innings for the win, allowing only one hit and striking out eight.“I just felt loose,” Yoder said. “I trusted everything I had.”Puk fell apart in the third inning, when the Trojans scored five runs on just two hits and sent nine batters to the plate.Puk walked the first three batters in the inning – the first two on only nine pitches. The hard-throwing left-hander looked uneasy during most of the third, committing a balk after the first runner reached and later throwing two pitches to the backstop.West took advantage. With the bases loaded, Bonner singled hard down the left field line to plate the Trojans' first two runs of the inning.Puk walked the next two batters, the second forcing in a run. There was still nobody out when catcher Tyus Adkins doubled to drive in another pair of runs.The Trojans committed their first out at third base, but Puk coasted after that. The junior struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning en route to retiring the final 14 batters he faced.“Clearly, it was a tough inning for him,” Lombardi said. “Once he relaxed he was fine.”But the damage was done for the Warriors, who managed only two hits and two walks against the tough Trojans.“They didn't have a lot of hits, but they were able to take advantage of some things,” Lombardi said. “They're a great baseball team. We knew that coming in. They're so solid defensively.”West's Nick Grimsman and Luke Crimmins pitched the sixth and seventh innings in relief, combining for three strikeouts with one walk and one hit allowed.Stumpff said he plans to start Yoder in Wednesday's substate final. Like Washington, both Senior and Hempstead have strong arms."Whoever we play will be a similar type of game,” Stumpff said. “Pitching will be tough.”