Baseball squad entered this week looking to escape skid

Dating back to a game at Lenox the Friday before last, the Nodaway Valley/O-M baseball squad faced what head coach Dan Jameson called a “difficult” stretch of games in the last week, but they’re excited to regain their footing in this week’s outings.

Last Monday, the Wolverines lost 12-2 at Martensdale-St. Marys. They then lost an 8-0 game Tuesday at Southeast Warren, lost 11-1 Wednesday at Earlham, 7-2 Thursday at home against Coon Rapids-Bayard and 12-7 at home Friday against Mount Ayr.

“In the Coon Rapids-Bayard game, that’s kind of when things started turning around for us. We started seeing the ball a little better and putting the ball in play more,” Jameson explained. “Against Mount Ayr, we just spotted them too many runs. We had a couple of blunders where they scored a lot of runs off of them. You clean those up and it’s a tighter game.”

Against Coon Rapids-Bayard, Jase Davidson hit a two-RBI double that put the Wolverines’ two runs on the board in the fifth inning. A five-run sixth inning wasn’t enough for NV/O-M against Mount Ayr, as the Raiders pounced early, plating six runs in the second inning for a big early lead.

“We threw Tyson [Ross] out there against Coon Rapids-Bayard and he did a really good job. Against Mount Ayr, we had a few blunders there, but for the most part, guys have been making plays,” Jameson said. “We’re making the routine plays and making some nice plays in there too, and that’s huge for us.”

Jameson says the recipe for success going forward will be pretty simple.

“We just want to keep competing well. We want to pitch well, let your defense help you out, limit free bases and just keep hitting the ball,” Jameson said. “We just have to play ball like we know how to. We need to keep our heads up, keep fighting and always have to have the mentality that we’re never out of the game, it’s always possible.”