Panthers advance, 10-4

It was a seven-inning roller coaster ride of momentum shifts, but in the end Creston advanced in Class 3A substate baseball Friday night, 10-4 over Denison-Schleswig.

In what is becoming a familiar postseason matchup this academic year for the Panther boys, Creston travels to Harlan Monday night in the Substate 8 semifinals. Bondurant-Farrar takes on Lewis Central on the other side of the bracket, with the winners meeting Wednesday to determine a state tournament berth.

The 2023 Creston football team defeated Harlan in both regular-season and playoff encounters, and the boys basketball team won in overtime at Harlan to begin postseason play.

Creston improved to 24-10 with its first postseason win since knocking off Denison-Schleswig at home in 2022, coach Brandon Phipps’ first season at the helm. This is the first Creston baseball team to surpass 20 victories since the 2003 and 2002 teams that won 26 and 24 games, respectively, in Hall of Fame coach Vic Belger’s final two campaigns.

Harlan is 25-8 after beating Carroll on Friday, 11-3. The Cyclones and Panthers split their conference doubleheader this season, with Harlan winning 12-1 behind pitcher Weston Reisz. Creston’s Cael Turner won a pitching duel with Braydon Ernst in a 2-1 Panther win. Ernst pitched a complete game in Harlan’s victory on Friday.

“It’s a typical Harlan team,” Phipps said after his team’s victory Friday night. “They play really good defense and they apply pressure on offense. We have to do what we do. We saw their two best arms when we played them, and we have confidence in our guys. We’ll go out and compete.”

The Panthers had to ignite their competitive fire to forge a second offensive burst with a five-run sixth inning, after the Monarchs had fought back from an early 5-0 deficit with four runs in the top of the fifth.

Dylan Hoepker’s two-out single through the left side of the infield scored Gavin Millslagle for an early 1-0 lead in the second inning. But, Monarch relief pitcher Owen Galvin worked out of the jam with a flyout, leaving three Panther runners on base.

Four-run fourth

Creston pushed its lead to 5-0 in the fourth. Millslagle drew a second walk in the game, and after Mattias Schultes’ pinch-hit single, Millslagle scored on a sharp ground ball hit by Turner for an error. Tom Mikkelsen’s deep fly ball was misplayed in the Monarch outfield, allowing two Panther runs to score. Sam Henry followed with an RBI single to left field.

Creston starting pitcher Parker Varner was replaced by Turner after 4 1/3 effective innings with five strikeouts, no walks and two hits allowed. He finished under the 65-pitch limit for two days rest in the Iowa High School Athletic Association guidelines, so he is available to pitch Monday.

“I was really working them outside, and I knew they were trying to jump on my fastball, which I don’t throw that often,” Varner said. “I’m kind of an unconventional pitcher when it comes to at-bats and how I work them, so it kind of messes with the hitters.”

Monarchs rally

The Monarchs greeted Turner with two singles and a walk with one out on a strikeout. Leadoff batter Jake Fink delivered a two-run double to left and two more runs scored on Ty Fink’s ground single to close it to 5-4.

“I told Cael after the inning, that’s baseball,” Phipps said. “they got some soft contact hits, some balls that fell where we weren’t, and they got some momentum. Our team has been able to respond to adversity this year, and I’m proud of them for coming back and executing late. We had outstanding bunts that (sixth) inning by Cael and D-Hep (Hoepker) and McCoy (Haines) had the big RBI line drive in the gap.”

Millslagle drove in the final run on another successful bunt.

After Denison-Schleswig’s four-run burst in the fifth, Turner and the Panther defense shut down the Monarchs over the final two innings with just one baserunner.

One of the Panther defensive highlights was in the third when third baseman Tanner Ray ended the inning with a double play by snaring a line drive and stepping on the bag for a force out.