Ankeny uses big bats to advance in Class 4A baseball

The class 4A opening round of the state high school baseball tournament is underway in Marshalltown. After a sluggish start Ankeny’s big bats showed up. The second-ranked Hawks spotted Iowa City West an early 1-0 lead before cruising to a 7-1 victory. Ankeny coach Mark Hey felt his top seeded team was nervous at the outset, but he says it wasn’t something that worried him that they wouldn’t be able to come back. Ankeny had ten hits, the first nine for extra bases and Kalvin Johnson, Jeff Lanning and Aaron Jarosh all slammed homers. He says the bottom of the order has been full of tough outs all season.Iowa City West sidelined top ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy in the sub-state finals and scored a run in the first to spot pitcher Adam Slager an early lead. West coach Charlie Stumpff who says the Trojans knew Ankeny would be tough to stop and you couldn’t have scripted it any better to get the early lead. But he says Vogel is a great pitcher for Ankeny and shut them down after they got the first run. Stumpff says they did what they did all year, hit home runs and base hits.