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Errors the culprit as ’Cats fall to Cardinals

Newton knocks off Marshalltown 13-0 in 5 innings

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown left fielder Sam Greazel, left, throws home as Newton’s Kacey Sommars (21) leads away from second base during Thursday’s non-conference baseball game at the MHS diamond. Newton won 13-0 in five innings.

It’s starting to sound like a broken record, but errors really hurt the Marshalltown baseball team Thursday night in a game against Newton. The Bobcats committed nine errors in a 13-0 loss to the Cardinals and dropped to 3-26 on the season. Newton is now 11-10 on its campaign.

Head coach Todd Oberthien said he was nearly at a loss for words after Thursday’s numerous mishaps.

“You can’t compete any night against whoever you play by making that many errors,” Oberthien said. “We just literally did not make a single play. It was really bad defensively and at some point hopefully it starts clicking for some of these guys to make the routine play.”

It was a solid start to the game for the Bobcats, with Zander Stupp on the mound and pitching well in the first two innings to hold Newton scoreless. While the Bobcats were held scoreless as through two, there was still no momentum for their opponents.

Things fell apart in the top of the third inning, as the first three batters Stupp faced reached via errors. The inning ended with six Newton runs as the Cardinals kept their foot on the gas and capitalized on the Bobcat’s mistakes. Stupp continued on and pitched the fourth inning as well. Marshalltown gave up three more runs in the third but Oberthien said he was impressed overall with the freshman’s performance on the mound.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown’s Keiler Blue, right, tries to beat the throw to first base on a ground ball to third during Thursday’s non-conference baseball game at MHS.

“I thought he did a nice job for us,” Oberthien said. “I thought he did a good job competing for us.”

Newton made good contact with the ball, collecting 10 hits overall, but the Cardinals were again helped by errors from Marshalltown in a four-run top of the fifth inning. This inning saw Nick Rebik and Sam Greazel see pitching time as the Bobcats attempted to get out of the inning while limiting the damage.

The Bobcats recorded five hits, and two of them happened in the bottom of the fifth with the team trying to fight its way to another inning. Eighth-grader Jacob Hayes cracked a single up the middle with two outs left, and he then reached third on a Nick Rebik double. Marshalltown couldn’t get anything out of it, but Oberthien said those glimmers of promise from the young players is what he wants to see the rest of the season.

“He doesn’t care what the scoreboard says, he doesn’t care who he’s playing,” Oberthien said. “He’s super developmental right now and he’s growing every single day.”

Marshalltown plays Saydel on the road Saturday.

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