Eagles fend off Timberwolves in extra innings

AFTON — From 2008 to 2022, the East Union baseball team averaged less than three wins per season. In the last two years, a new era has dawned in Afton.

This year, the Eagles jumped to second in the Pride of Iowa with a nail-biting 12-11 win in extra innings over Southwest Valley (6-12, 3-6) Tuesday. Martensdale-St. Mary’s leads the conference with a 9-0 record, East Union with 8-3. Bedford’s 7-4 ranks third.

The Eagles wasted no time on offense against the Timberwolves, putting up three in the first, three in the second, one in the fourth and three in the sixth.

“The last few games have really seen the bats come alive,” East Union coach Nate McCollough said. “We have some depth this year, and some young guys have really stepped up, and that’s been awesome to see.”

Senior Austin Lack went 3-6 at bat with two walks for three runs and an RBI. Fisher Buffington was 3-5 at bat for three runs and three RBIs.

“We started off sluggish,” Southwest Valley coach Keegan Longabaugh said. “The game was going the wrong way early. We had too many mistakes.”

The Timberwolves committed 10 fielding errors. Senior Brayden Maeder was on the mound for five innings, striking out three batters. Gavin Wetzel and Walker Bissell each pitched one inning.

With the game locked in at 10-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning with bases loaded, the Eagles looked to have an easy path to another conference matchup. But the Timberwolves weren’t going down without a fight.

The Eagles stranded three in the sixth, but to secure the win, they only needed to get out of the top of the inning without allowing six runs.

Senior Seth Hudson pitched six innings, striking out nine batters and allowing four runs. Terrian Islas and Fischer Buffington each pitched one inning.

“Seth Hudson and Austin Lack are leading the way for us on the mound,” McCollough said. “Offensively, Fischer Buffington and Terrian Islas have joined Hudson and Lack as key components.”

The Timberwolves took advantage of unusually sloppy defense by the Eagles, scoring three runs on errors with only one out. Sophomore Gavin Wetzel led the charge offensively for Southwest Valley going 3-3 for three runs, one RBI and four stolen bases.

A run by Maeder tied the game at 10 in the top of the seventh, the Timberwolves with only one out. The Eagles pulled their defense together to get two more outs before any more runs were scored.

Needing just one run in the bottom of the seventh to take the win, the Eagles loaded the bases with only one out. Islas was in the scoring position, but a strikeout and a fly out to centerfield meant the game would continue to the eighth inning.

Brody Crozier scored in the eighth for the Timberwolves on an RBI by Roman Keefe to put Southwest Valley ahead 11-10.

“We had a late rally down by six with one chance left. We drove in six and forced extra innings,” Longabaugh said. “We took the lead in the top of the eighth and had a couple mistakes in the bottom half to lose it.”

It was the two seniors, Lack and Hudson, who put themselves in scoring position for Islas to send home the winning runs. Friday against Nodaway Valley, the senior duo each hit their first career home run in a 22-6 conference win.

The Eagles won 10 games in 2023, a massive jump from the previous decades, but they finished eighth in the 10-team Pride of Iowa with a 4-9 conference record. As the season winds down, East Union has a shot at being the first baseball team in school history to win the POI title.

“We’ve been playing good baseball all season, but especially the last couple weeks,” McCollough said. “We’ve been able to pick up some huge win over conference teams that we haven’t beaten in a very long time, in Mount Ayr, Lenox and Southeast Warren.”

The team’s wins this season over Mount Ayr and Southeast Warren are the first they’ve had in the Bound era, the Raiders winning 21 straight and the Warhawks with 20 in a row.

Earlier this month, the Eagles fell to the top-ranked Blue Devils 6-2 on the road. Friday they have a shot for redemption as they host Martensdale-St. Marys. It’s the Eagles’ last conference matchup of the season. The regular season ends July 2 with districts beginning July 6.