Glenwood’s season ends in district second round
Glenwood’s Nolan Allmon, shown here early this season, singled and drive in a run inthe Rams’ postseason loss to Council Bluffs Lewis Central.
Council Bluffs Lewis Central picked up the season sweep and ended Glenwood’s season with a 9-3 victory in the Class 3A, District 8 second round last Monday in Council Bluffs.
The top 10 ranked Titans (29-4) got six strong innings from starting pitcher Luke Woltman – and a solo home run at the plate – in the postseason victory.
“They’re a really good team,” said Glenwood coach Kurt Schultz of the Titans. “They have pretty good pitching, that’s really their strong suit. They play consistent defense too, but their pitching is always good. Their pitcher kept us off balance all evening.”
Woltman scattered seven hits, two earned runs and fanned 10 in the win. Brady Hetzel came on to pitch a scoreless seventh.
The Rams could never quite string together the hits they needed at opportune times. After tying the game at 1-1 in the top of the third, the Titans came right back and plated four runs in the bottom of the frame. Glenwood had two errors in the inning and a walk and a hit batter by stater Ryan Turner to aid L.C.
In all, the Rams committed three errors that led to six Titan unearned runs.
“We’ve struggled with consistency off an off all year,” Schultz said of his team’s defensive miscues.
Turner threw 3 1/3 innings, allowing three hits and two earned runs, before Schultz went to his bullpen.
“He threw all right,” Schultz said of Turner. “He got one ball up and the guy put it out of the park, but there was a lot of wind and it drifted out. He threw good the first couple innings and they we played a little inconsistent on defense and he had a couple walks and hit a couple batters.”
Kayden Anderson threw the final 2 2/3 innings for the Rams. The junior allowed three hits and four runs, but none were earned.
Glenwood did cut the lead to 6-3 in the sixth, but the Titans rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull away.
Woltman went 2-for-4 at the plate with his home run and Logan Mans had three hits and two RBIs to lead the Titans.
Trent Patton led Glenwood with two hits and an RBI. Nolan Clark and Nolan Allmon each singled and drove in runs.
Glenwood closes its season with a record of 13-14 overall, including 11-9 in the Hawkeye 10 Conference.
Three seniors – J.D. Colpitts, Risto Lappala and Evan Soergel – also played their last game in a Ram uniform. All three are multi-year starters Schultz said will be missed next season.
“J.D., Risto and Evan, they’ve been around a while,” Schultz said. “They’re big losses offensively. Hopefully we can replace them somehow. They were leaders that led by example. We’re going to miss all three of them for sure.”
The Rams will return three of their top four hitters next season. Schultz said a strong off-season for his pitchers could go far in helping Glenwood get back in the Hawkeye 10 upper echelon.
“You always have to look at pitching,” Schultz said. “I think if you look at the last two seasons, we should have maybe been better on the mound. I have to look at that. Baseball is also a game of catch, if you don’t do that you’re not going to win, I don’t care if you’re hitting the ball well or not. You have to play defense and pitch. That’s our focus.”