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TROY MILLS: You are well-versed in the Big Three.
The core of this North Linn baseball squad has long been seniors Mason Bechen, Cole Griffith, and Cael Benesh. They play excellent defense at first base (Bechen), center field (Griffith), and behind the plate (Bechen), and they hit 2-3-4 in the Lynx batting order.
Bechen and Griffith have been extremely important players on the mound. Griffith started Tuesday night’s Class 1A district game against Midland, which was won 13-3 in six innings by fifth-ranked North Linn.
However, there are two reasons why veteran head coach Travis Griffith says he is at ease transferring the program to co-head coach Justin Kress following this season. First, Griffith believes Kress is a very good young coach.
Additionally, a number of exceptionally talented young players are making important contributions to a team that is 24-3 and playing North Tama (14-11) at home on Saturday night in a district quarterfinal. Put another way, the North Linn baseball program’s success, which has lasted for more than ten years, isn’t simply going to vanish.
Liam Thompson, a freshman who walked twice, singled twice (including the final hit in a hard-fought nine-pitch at-bat), drove in two runs, and pitched two scoreless innings for the save, stated, “I think we’ve got a good, long future ahead of us.” With our younger players, I predict two or three years of success. Additionally, many of our young children are good. I believe the path to success and victories will be a long one.
In the third inning, Griffith encountered difficulty and was replaced by Jackson Nielsen. He pitched 1 2/3 scoreless relief innings to get this pitching victory as a freshman.
Waylon Raue scored three goals with three hits. Just a sophomore, that’s all.
Earlier in the season, Will Sommerfelt took over as the leadoff hitter in the NL batting order due to his tendency to steal bases and get on base, frequently via bunting and getting hit by pitches. Just a sophomore, that’s all.
Sommerfelt, who reached all five times he was up, including twice on singles that scored runs and once on a hit pitch, said, “I love the opportunity because I love getting on base and having to score.” I have strong players on my side that can help me with that. In actuality, it only serves to undermine the teams. It helps us get going since they’re not used to the way we play.
Anthony Harrington of Midland entered the game having struck out 61 batters in 28 innings, so North Linn wasn’t dealing with any pitching slouches either on Tuesday night. All four of the Lynx’s scores in the bottom of the second inning were unearned.
In the end, North Linn gained a run in the fourth and four in the fifth and sixth innings, while Midland (9–12) scored three goals in the third to make it 4–3. In addition to other defensive blunders, Midland’s poor defensive performance harmed North Linn’s bunt game.
Coach Griffith thought his team’s performance was a little off, partly because they had to put in a lot of effort to prepare the field after an extremely isolated cell caused torrential rain to fall over the school grounds for almost 30 minutes. After a while, the players and coaches prepared the field for play.
“I felt we did a good job,” Griffith remarked. They clearly did not adequately cover the bunts. You just keep bunting as soon as you see them miss one.
In the third inning, Dane Ballou doubled for Midland with two runs and Harrington doubled with two RBI. Out of the three North Linn pitchers, the Eagles did manage to get seven walks.
