Larrs Schoenfelder

ANKENY — The Marshalltown baseball team had its season ended by Ankeny Centennial for the second summer in a row, falling 11-1 in six innings to the ninth-ranked Jaguars in Saturday’s Class 4A Substate 7 first-round pairing.

The Jaguars (24-13) needed just seven hits to get the damage done offensively, capitalizing on five walks and five hit batsmen issued by Marshalltown pitching. Free passes were the season-long bugaboo for the Bobcats (6-27), who ranked 47th out of 48 teams in 4A with 72 hit batsmen and 42nd with 157 walks.

Ankeny Centennial got on the board first with a run in the bottom of the first inning, as William Nesler led off with a single and scored one out later on a double by Will Morris.

Marshalltown answered in the top of the second as Zander Stupp reached on a walk, his courtesy runner Cooper McLeod took second on Garrett Thede’s groundout, and scored on a two-out double by Larrs Schoenfelder.

“We were able to put ourselves in a good position early in the game,” said MHS head coach Colton Hanke. “Stupp gave us a good start on the mound, Larrs had a good two-out hit to get us an early run, and we made plays defensively that kept things close. However, we gave up too many free passes in the end and came up short.”

Centennial eventually chased Stupp from the mound, however, after scoring once more in the third and two more times in the fourth. The Jags finished off the win with four runs in the fifth and three in the sixth.

Stupp, one of three Marshalltown seniors, took the loss, allowing four runs on five hits and five total walks, striking out one. Schoenfelder faced two batters, both of whom scored, and senior Sam Greazel pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowing five runs — three earned — on one hit and four total walks.

“I was really pleased with everyone’s efforts, and thanks to seniors Tayven Dutton, Sam Greazel and Zander Stupp for helping lead the young team,” Hanke said.

Aiden Holmgren had Marshalltown’s only other hit against Centennial pitcher Trae Houser, who struck out six and walked only one.

Morris finished 3-for-4 with three doubles and two RBIs to lead the Jaguar offense. Nessler added two hits, while Reed Anderson tripled and scored.

Centennial advances to face Linn-Mar (19-20), which upset Iowa City West 7-3 in their first-round pairing. Top-seeded Iowa City Liberty (31-9) defeated Waterloo West 11-1 to move directly to the substate finals on Wednesday.