Young players contribute to North Linn

TROY MILLS - North Linn has the same amount of baseball players looking forward to entering the school for the first time as those who are leaving it behind them.

A 13-man roster dominated by underclassmen, including three recent junior-high graduates, has shown promise.

The Lynx sure made things interesting against Class 1A eighth-ranked Don Bosco. North Linn loaded the bases to put the winning run on base with two outs, but came up short in a 10-8 loss to the Dons.

North Linn overcame a slow start riddled with miscues. They fought back, trailing by eight runs with two at-bats left, and had a chance to win at the end.

'We just didn't come ready,” said Griffith, who praised Don Bosco's consistent performance each game. 'I'm very enthused with the way we battled back against a very good team.”

'These young kids know how to play baseball. It's just a matter of coming ready to play every day.”

Despite falling to 15-6, the Lynx just need four wins to match last year's total. The Lynx had won seven straight games, sweeping previously ranked Alburnett, last week.

'Once we started winning, we got more confidence,” said eighth-grader David Seber, who batted 2-for-3 with three RBIs and threw five innings of relief. 'Now, we're aren't as scared or nervous against other good teams.”

The underclassmen played together in the past. Some during tee ball and others in AAU competition. They reunited this season and have had success, joining three seniors.

'It's pretty fun now,” Seber said. 'We know what to expect from each other.”

The Dons (13-2) appeared to break things open in the sixth, getting a two-run home run from Dallon Smith. The Lynx responded with five of their own, including a two-run single from eighth-grader David Seber. Logan Novak and Brad Pflughaupt each had RBI singles in the frame for North Linn.

'At the end, we did a lot better hitting,” Seber said. 'We were getting more excited about how we were doing the last few innings.”

Some of their inexperience contributed to a rough start. Two first-inning errors led to two runs for the Dons, who received an RBI double from Alex Bagby. Don Bosco tacked on two more in the second, including an RBI single from Cade Schares that plated Marty Hack.

The Lynx chipped away at the early deficit. Sean Boardman smacked a leadoff double and scored on Seber's line-drive single over a leaping shortstop. Jake Hilmer's double scored Kyler Schott.

'There is a lot of baseball left,” Griffith said. 'We've already grown up through 21 games. There still is a lot left to learn and improve on, but I like where we are at.”

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