Athletics: Baseball

East Mills tops Villisca

Helbling pitches complete game

by Marty Green

Villisca Iowa, June 23, 2008

The East Mills Wolverines traveled to Villisca Monday night and came away with arguably their best win on the season. Levi Helbling pitched a complete game 7 innings to record the win. Senior Brett Tornquist and Sophomore Jake Bolton each hit home runs in support of Helbling. East Mills 11 Villisca 2.

“I think Coach Doyle said it best when he said this was the most fun we have had all season”, said Coach Green. “We played well and played the most complete game that we have played all year. Every starter had at least one hit. Levi pitched strong all night. We only committed 2 errors and made some outstanding defensive plays.” In the Blue Jays first at bat, Wolverines 2^nd baseman Jake Doyle, knocked down a hard shot to him, scrambled, barehanded the ball and threw to first for the out. “I think that play kind of set the tone for the game”, said Coach Green. “We haven’t been making those plays and I think it gave us a spark. Jake Bolton and Brett Tornquist’s home runs sparked the team. Jake Sneed snared 2 very hard hit line shots at first base that I’m not sure many first basemen in the conference make. Coach Doyle and I have been looking for this kind of performance all year. I hope we can build on this and take it into districts. We are 7 and 7 in conference with 4 games remaining. Our goal is to take one game at a time and see where the cards fall. We can’t win out conference but we can make some noise in districts if we continue to play well.”

Alan Alger was 1 for 5, 1 RBI, stole 2 bases, 1 assist

Jake Doyle was 1 for 4, scored 2 runs, 1 RBI, 1 SAC, stole 1 base, 1 putout, 1 assist

Levi Helbling was 1 for 5, scored 1 run, 1 RBI, 3 putouts

Brett Tornquist was 3 for 5, 1 was a Home Run, scored 2 runs, 2 RBI, 2 assists, 1 error

Matt Miller was 1 for 3, 1 BB, 1 HBP

Shawn Blackman was 1 for 4, scored 2 runs, 1 BB, stole 2 bases, 2 putouts

Jake Sneed was 1 for 3, scored 1 run, 1 RBI, 1 BB, stole 1 base, 8 putouts, 1 assist

Ben Blank was 1 for 3, 1 RBI, 1 BB

Jake Bolton was 1 for 1, a Home Run, scored 1 run, 1 RBI, 1 BB, stole 1 base, 1 error

John Walker played Left Field

Curtis Beem was 0 for 0, scored 1 run, 1 BB

Luke Schafer pinch ran and scored a run