Indianola junior Brady Blake bashed his fifth home run of the season in the bottom of the first and pitched the last three innings on the mound Monday night, helping the Indians hold off Norwalk 3-2 in a matchup of Little Hawkeye Conference baseball rivals.
Blake allowed four hits and a run in his relief stint, working around a walk and a hit batsman in the top of the seventh and finishing the game on a called strikeout with Norwalk runners on second and third.
Indianola won for the fifth time in six games and improved to 14-6 overall and 7-2 in the Little Hawkeye, trailing Grinnell by one game in the league standings.
Blake tells KNIA that the Indians have showcased a great deal of resiliency and team depth in battling through injuries so far this season.
“We’ve got a bunch of dudes, and just a bunch of guys that want to play,” Blake said. “Somebody goes down, [it’s] next person up. I just think our guys are doing a great job.
“We’re playing good right now, and we just hope to keep it going.”
The top four hitters in the Indians’ lineup did most of the damage Monday. In addition to Blake’s home run, Bennett Brueck hit a pair of doubles and scored a run while Casey Stecker was 2-for-3 with an RBI double. Leadoff man Gavin Legg walked twice and scored one run.
Hayden Hoffman pitched the first 3 ⅓ innings for Indianola, allowing just one hit and an unearned run.
Trailing 2-0 after three, Norwalk cut the margin to 2-1 in the fourth and 3-2 in the sixth but could not get over the hump, stranding 10 total runners in a game that saw both teams finish with five hits.
DJ Harris, Jackson Campbell and Cody Hargin all singled during the Warriors’ sixth inning and Ian Fisher hit a sac fly in the fourth. Dylan Christensen (1-4) took the loss on the mound, allowing three hits, five walks and two runs in four innings.
Norwalk dropped to 12-9 overall and 4-6 in the Little Hawkeye and will return to action Wednesday for a varsity doubleheader at Pella Christian.
Indianola will play a Wednesday varsity doubleheader at Pella.