A first-inning injury to Marshalltown baseball starting pitcher Sam Greazel served as a bad omen for the rest of the Wednesday evening doubleheader with Ankeny. Already short on pitching arms for the night and forced to make a pitching and position change in the first inning, the Bobcats were throwing young arms early and often. Ankeny took advantage in a 16-5 and 13-0 sweep of the Bobcats, with both wins coming in five innings.

Head coach Todd Oberthien said Marshalltown’s hand was forced with the injuries, but he added that what he saw from his young arms was promising.

“We gotta play better behind them defensively, and that will give them confidence,” Oberthien said. “Once they have confidence, that will really allow them to develop and trust their stuff and throw more strikes. It all goes hand-in-hand.”

Game one was close for the first three innings — Marshalltown (3-14, 0-8 CIML Iowa Conference) was tied 1-1 after two innings and trailed 3-2 after inning number three — but in the top of the fourth the wheels started to come off. Five Ankeny runs crossed the plate, and the Bobcats committed errors that extended the inning. After going without a run in the bottom of the fourth to chip away at Ankeny’s lead, the Hawks unloaded with eight runs to break open a 16-2 advantage.

A spirited Marshalltown rally brought in three runs in the bottom of the fifth as the Bobcats tried to extend the game by capitalizing on errors from Ankeny and making contact at the plate.

Momentum from the three-run fifth did not carry into game two. Marshalltown recorded just one hit the entire game, with the Hawks throwing left-handed pitcher Brock Adamson. Oberthien said the mix of movement and speed from a lefty pitcher threw the Bobcats off, as they hadn’t gone up against a pitcher like him to this point in the season.

Ankeny scored four runs in the first inning and three each in the second, third and fourth innings to build a 13-0 advantage. Four more errors were committed by the Bobcat defense, who trotted out a different lineup tonight with Kaden Ricken and Ziek Slocum in the outfield despite having issues with their throwing arms. Oberthien said it was a trade-off to improve the team’s ability to catch fly balls — and it worked in that regard.

Eighth-grade pitcher Jacob Hayes pitched in relief in the fifth inning and had a 1-2-3 outing, which Oberthien said was impressive against a good lineup.

Getting young players experience has been a big talking point during an injury-riddled season for the Bobcats.

“Good teams can just plug another guy in, so we’re trying to get to the point where we can just plug another guy and try to get the same production there,” Oberthien said. “We’re really trying to figure out what we’ve got.”

Marshalltown hosts 3A No. 9 Center Point-Urbana Friday at 7 p.m.