OSKALOOSA — Grinnell collected six hits to Oskaloosa’s one in their Class 3A district semifinal game Friday night.

But the second-ranked Tigers (27-5) used a suicide squeeze to sneak out a 3-2 win over the Indians.

The victory sends the Tigers to Tuesday night’s district final against Washington in Oskaloosa.

With the game tied at 2, Joe Nowasell began the sixth inning with a walk against reliever Jesse VanDalen. Nowasell stole second and went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Andy Fulk.

Oskaloosa coach Brandon Schmidt went out to chat with his fielders, reminding them of a possible squeeze play.

Sure enough, Nowasell broke on the pitch and Mitch Thompson bunted the ball in fair territory as Nowasell scored the go-ahead run.

“I went out and talked about that and I was a little frustrated, but we ran it right the second time,” Schmidt said. “We have a young team for the most part and had a pitcher who’s a sophomore and had a big learning experience for him..

He and Andy Upah have been our top pitchers and Andy said he was tired so that made my decision to bring in Jesse easy. We gave them two runs and they made us scratch and claw for the two runs we got.”

The Indians, who end the season at 9-27, led after one inning as Upah walked and Jacob Hance came in as a courtesy runner. Nick Rutledge also walked and both runners moved up on a Clay Tucker sacrifice bunt. Cody Green was hit-by-pitch and Grinnell pitcher Nate Criswell let loose a wild pitch with Hance crossing the plate with the game’s first run.

The Tigers evened the game at 1 with a run in the second as Fulk had an infield single and Thompson reached on an error by Oskaloosa catcher Cole Pettyjohn as Fulk went to third on the play.

Thompson stole second, but another error on the steal attempt allowed Fulk to score the tying run.

Oskaloosa regained the lead in the fifth as Rutledge drew a two-out walk and Tucker singled to right-center — the Indians’ only hit of the contest. Rutledge then scored on a second wild pitch by Criswell.

That lead didn’t last long as Jordan Ely belted a solo home run in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game at 2 going to the decisive sixth.

After giving up the tie-breaking run, the Indians had a chance to tie the game in the top of the seventh.

Pettyjohn was caught looking for the first out of the inning, Upah walked and Hance ran for the senior in hopes of forcing the game to the bottom of the seventh.

But Ely shut the door as he struck out Rutledge looking and Tucker swinging to end the game and Oskaloosa’s season.

While Oskaloosa only managed one hit in the game, Schmidt was confident the Indians would be in the game against the second-ranked team in 3A.

“We knew that’s what it was going to be like,” he said. “We came in here confident it was going to be a ball game. I never saw the kids more confident the whole season than how they came in here today. We  really believed we had a very, very good chance to win. We lost to them by three, two and one run twice. I told the kids we’re right there. Instead of 9-27 and we could 27-9 as we’ve lost so many close games. We’ve just got to improve that little bit and get better and more consistent.”

 

Grinnell 3, Oskaloosa 2

O    100    010    0    —    2    1    3

G    010    011    x    —    2    6    1

Oskaloosa battery — Andy Upah ((5 IP, 2 R, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 K), Jesse VanDalen (L, 3-7, 1 IP, 1 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K) and Cole Pettyjohn.

Hits — Clay Tucker 1-for-4. Runs — Nick Rutledge, Jacob Hance.